Androgen Deprivation Therapy and Cognitive Impairment
Abstract
Androgen deprivation therapy is a well-established treatment for prostate cancer, but an important side effect of androgen deprivation therapy is impairment of memory and learning. In the hippocampus, a brain region that plays a major role in memory and learning, new nerve cells (i.e., neurons) continue to develop throughout adulthood, a process is called neurogenesis. The goal of this project is to test the hypothesize that impaired hippocampal neurogenesis underlies the androgen deprivation therapy-induced impairment of memory and learn sing. During the first year of the project we carried out surgeries (castration and sham castration) and implanted placebo pellets and pellets containing leuprolide (a gonadotropin releasing hormone analog that reduces plasma testosterone levels) and flutamide (an androgen receptor antagonist). Some mice were administered bromodeoxyuridine to determine the effects of the treatments on the survival of the new nerve cells. Five weeks after surgery mice were sacrificed for immunohistochemical studies assessing marking of neurogenesis and Western blots for determining the expression of proteins associated with neurogenesis. All mice in all experimental groups have been treated and sacrificed. We are in the process of completing the processing of the tissue and the data analysis.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 2017
- Accession Number
- AD1050385
Entities
People
- Robert N. Pechnick