Figure 6.

BT2 is effective in alleviating brain pathology and increasing neurotransmitters in 5xFAD mice. WT or 5xFAD mice that are 6–8 weeks old were injected with either vehicle or BT2 (40 mg/kg/day) for one month. Animals were single-housed during the experiment. (A) Daily body weight. (B) Weekly food intake. (C) Blood glucose at baseline and at two and four weeks post-treatment. (D) Plasma BCAA levels at baseline and post-treatment. (E) Western blots for IDE in the cortex. (F) Protein analysis of IDE. (G) Western blots for GSK3β in the cortex and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), the rate-limiting enzyme for catecholamine synthesis, in the hippocampus. (H) Protein expression of GSK3β. (I) Hippocampal mRNA abundance of markers for ER stress (PERK), inflammation (NF-κB), and amyloid synthesis (BACE1; also known as β-secretase), normalized to B2M. (J) Concentration of neurotransmitters (NE, DA, 5-HT) and their metabolites (DOPAC, 5-HIAA) measured in the hippocampus and (K) Cortex. (L) TH protein expression in the hippocampus. WT vehicle or BT2 group (n = 6/group); 5xFAD vehicle or BT2 group (n = 4/group). * p < 0.05. Groups with different letters are significantly different from each other with p < 0.05.