Short-term exposure to dietary cholesterol is associated with downregulation of interleukin-15, reduced thigmotaxis and memory impairment in mice.

We report that short-term exposure to a high-cholesterol diet led to decreased thigmotaxis and short-term spatial memory impairment without affecting long-term recognition memory. Furthermore, cognitive and behavioral phenotypes in these mice were associated with a reduction in interleukin-15 levels in the absence of changes in other inflammatory mediators. Our findings indicate that interleukin-15 may play a role in early stages of cognitive impairment secondary to hypercholesterolemia. Consequently, optimization of interleukin-15 signaling may be a viable effective cognitive therapy in the population susceptible to developing dementia due to risk factors associated with cholesterol dysregulation. PMID: 32585301 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Behavioural Brain Research - Category: Neurology Authors: Tags: Behav Brain Res Source Type: research