By Jimmy Downs

Taking all-trans retinoic acid supplements may help prevent or treat Alzheimer's disease, according to Progress in Neuropsychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry.   There has been no cure for Alzheimer's disease thus far and any preventative measure can be valuable.

R.K. Sodhi and N. Singh of Punjabi University in Patiala, Punjab, India conducted the study and found mice with antibiotic-induced Alzheimer's type of dementia after supplementation with all trans retinoic acid helped retain memory.

Recent studies of rodents revealed that aberrant vitamin A signaling may lead to memory deficits.

In the current study, Swiss albino mice intracerebroventricularly received an antibiotic called Streptozotocin in a dose of 3 mg/kg on day one and day three to induce dementia. 

After the second dose of Streptozotocin, the mice received all trans retinoic acid in a dose of 10 mg/kg for 19 days until day 22.  Then on day 19, 20, 21, 22 and 23, learning and memory of the animals were assessed using Morris water maze test.  Then the mice were sacrificed for biochemical and histopathological studies.

Use of the antibiotic led to a marked decline in the performance of the animals in the Morris water maze test indicating that the animals suffered impairment of learning and memory.  And the treatment led to detrimental changes in some biochemical biomarkers and histopathological changes.

And mice after supplementation with all trans retinoic acid reduced the antibiotic-induced memory deficits and the detrimental changes in the studied biomarkers.

The researchers concluded "the memory restorative ability of  ALRA (all trans retinoic acid) may be attributed to its anti-cholinesterase, anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory potential."

The study suggests that taking all trans retinoic acid may help prevent memory loss which may otherwise lead to the development of Alzheimer's disease.