All-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) prevents lipopolysaccharide-induced neuroinflammation, amyloidogenesis and memory impairment in aged rats

Abstract We aimed to investigate preventive effects of All-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) on a lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced aged neuroinflammation model. We analyzed behavior, systemic nitric oxide (NO) production, cerebral NO synthase (NOS2) and β-amyloid (Aβ) 1–42 expression and tissue integrity in the neuroinflammation model pretreated with ATRA (150 μg/ml/rat/day) for 30 days. Our results showed that LPS treatment (500 μg/kg/day) for 7 days disturbed memory, enhanced systemic NO production, NOS2 and Aβ 1–42 cerebral expression and generated an Alzheimer's disease (AD)-like neuronal degeneration. Interestingly, ATRA pretreatment prevented the LPS-induced deleterious effects. ATRA could be a potent preventive approach in AD.