Shrimp Oil Improves Cognition, Muscle Coordination by Suppressing Neuroinflammation in CCH Rats

Vascular dementia (VaD) is the second most common age-related cognitive decline globally, characterized by impaired blood flow to the brain. A critical pathological driver of VaD is neuroinflammation, which contributes to neuronal damage and cognitive deficits. Current treatments often fall short in effectively targeting this inflammatory component. Shrimp oil, a processing by-product rich in astaxanthin and lipids, presents a potential natural intervention due to its known anti-inflammatory properties, offering a novel approach to mitigate VaD progression by modulating neuroinflammatory pathways.

This study utilized male Wistar rats subjected to bilateral common carotid artery occlusion (CCH) to model Vascular dementia. Animals received either oral shrimp oil or piracetam once daily for 5 weeks. The primary endpoints included assessments of muscle coordination and reference spatial memory. Further mechanistic investigations involved proteomic profiling to identify changes in protein expression, and Western blot analysis to quantify specific neuroinflammation-associated proteins and myelination markers, comparing treated groups to CCH controls.

Shrimp oil treatment significantly improved both muscle coordination and enhanced reference spatial memory in the CCH rat model. Proteomic profiling revealed that shrimp oil mitigated the CCH-induced proteomic signature, specifically by reprogramming protein clusters related to neuroinflammation and AMPK-SIRT1 signaling. Western blot analysis confirmed that shrimp oil reduced the expression of key neuroinflammation-associated proteins, including TLR4 and NF-κB. This was accompanied by a suppression of M1 microglial activation, NLRP3 inflammasome activation, and pyroptosis. These anti-inflammatory effects were paralleled by an increased expression of myelination-related proteins, specifically oligodendrocyte transcription factor 1 (OLIG1) and myelin basic protein (MBP). The observed inflammation suppression was primarily attributed to the upregulated AMPK and sirtuin-1 (SIRT1) pathway, rather than PPARγ signaling. Importantly, the abstract did not provide specific numerical data (e.g., percentages, p-values) for these changes. However, the qualitative findings were consistent across multiple assays.

Shrimp oil reduced the expression of neuroinflammation-associated proteins, including TLR4 and NF-κB, and suppressed M1 microglial activation, NLRP3 inflammasome activation, and pyroptosis.