Abstract

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), which is the most common reason for dementia, is an irreversible neurodegenerative brain disease. FEZ1 is a protein expressed in the brain. High expressions of FEZ1 mRNA have been interpreted as an indicator of high neural plasticity for memory and learning. This study was planned to determine the effect of melatonin deficiency (pinealectomy; PnX) on AD and to reveal its association with FEZ1. 30 male rats were used in the study. The rats were divided into three as SHAM, PnX+streptozotocin (STZ) and PnX+STZ+melatonin (MLT) groups. The pineal glands of rats were surgically removed (except SHAM group) and STZ was intracerebroventricularly (icv) administrated at the first and third days. MLT (10 mg/kg/day) was intraperitoneally (ip) injected 1 hour before the first STZ application and it was continued for 14 days. STZ and MLT solvents were applied to the rats in the SHAM group. At the end of the applications, Morris water maze (MWM) test was carried out the rats. At the end of MWM tests, the rats were sacrificed and their blood and hippocampus tissues were taken. FEZ1 gene expression and protein levels were determined from hippocampus tissue, while serum nonadrenaline, dopamine and serotonin levels were detected from blood samples. FEZ1 protein levels of PnX+STZ+MLT group were found to be statistically significantly lower than those of SHAM and PnX+STZ groups (p

Key words: FEZ1, Alzheimer's Disease, pinealectomy, melatonin