12.23.20
Melatonin, long studied for sleep and cognitive support, was shown in a recent animal trial published in the Journal of Pineal Research to benefit long-term object memory in a group of young and aging mice. Specifically, researchers identified melatonin metabolites, AMK and AFMK, as being responsible for the improvements to memory, due to the high levels which were present in the hippocampus and frontal lobe of the mice during the experiment.
The findings suggest that one day, AMK and AFMK therapies could be shown in clinical trials to be beneficial for age-related memory issues, such as mild cognitive impairment, a precedent to more serious conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
Mice at the ages of 2 months, 14 months, and 21 months were used in order to assess the impact of melatonin metabolites on young, middle-aged, and old animal models. The animals were trained to perform a number of acquisition trials in order to assess long-term memory formation, with time spent exploring the novel environments calculated in sequential tests.
The researchers found that a single treatment with melatonin, or either of the two metabolites studied, “remarkably facilitated [long-term memory] in mice.” It likely reflected processes that follow memory encoding, they said, based on the relatively short-half lives of these nutrients, suggesting that their role is primarily in the formation of memory.
“As the most potent LTM facilitating compound, our next set of experiments focused on the role of AMK in memory consolidation and encoding,” the authors said. “AK administered 60 minutes before to 120 minutes after training enhanced LTM, indicating its broad temporal effects on LTM at a 1 mg/kg dose.”
Acute melatonin administration appeared to have either an impaired or improved cognitive performance, the researchers said, which was dependent upon the time of day at which dosage occurred.
“In conclusion, we provide the first evidence that acute treatment with AMK, a melatonin metabolite, facilitates long-term memory with superior effects compared to melatonin,” the researchers concluded. “The present data strongly suggest that AMK plays a key role in facilitating short-term memory-to-long-term memory transfer of information.”
The findings suggest that one day, AMK and AFMK therapies could be shown in clinical trials to be beneficial for age-related memory issues, such as mild cognitive impairment, a precedent to more serious conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
Mice at the ages of 2 months, 14 months, and 21 months were used in order to assess the impact of melatonin metabolites on young, middle-aged, and old animal models. The animals were trained to perform a number of acquisition trials in order to assess long-term memory formation, with time spent exploring the novel environments calculated in sequential tests.
The researchers found that a single treatment with melatonin, or either of the two metabolites studied, “remarkably facilitated [long-term memory] in mice.” It likely reflected processes that follow memory encoding, they said, based on the relatively short-half lives of these nutrients, suggesting that their role is primarily in the formation of memory.
“As the most potent LTM facilitating compound, our next set of experiments focused on the role of AMK in memory consolidation and encoding,” the authors said. “AK administered 60 minutes before to 120 minutes after training enhanced LTM, indicating its broad temporal effects on LTM at a 1 mg/kg dose.”
Acute melatonin administration appeared to have either an impaired or improved cognitive performance, the researchers said, which was dependent upon the time of day at which dosage occurred.
“In conclusion, we provide the first evidence that acute treatment with AMK, a melatonin metabolite, facilitates long-term memory with superior effects compared to melatonin,” the researchers concluded. “The present data strongly suggest that AMK plays a key role in facilitating short-term memory-to-long-term memory transfer of information.”
