Chromium picolinate attenuates cognitive deficit in ICV-STZ rat paradigm of sporadic Alzheimer's-like dementia via targeting neuroinflammatory and IRS-1/PI3K/AKT/GSK-3β pathway.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is prevalent in old age people and is one of the most common brain diseases. Brain insulin resistance, neuroinflammation, oxidative stress, and mitochondrial and cholinergic dysfunction are key features of the disease. In our study, streptozotocin (STZ) in a dose of 3 mg/kg was injected in male Wistar rats bilaterally through the intracerebroventricular (ICV) route on stereotaxic apparatus. Chromium picolinate (CrPic) was tested at doses of 1 mg/kg, 2 mg/kg, and 4 mg/kg, while rivastigmine (2 mg/kg) was used as reference standard drug. Cognitive dysfunction induced by STZ was assessed by behavioral tests like Morris water maze and novel object recognition test. Treatment with CrPic revealed attenuation of cognitive deficit. This was confirmed by behavioral tests, biochemical estimations of antioxidant enzymes, oxidative stress, nitrosative stress, and cholinergic and mitochondrial activity. CrPic did not change AchE activity significantly. STZ-induced neuroinflammation evident by increased TNF-α, IL-6, and CRP levels was also significantly decreased by CrPic. Dysfunctional insulin signaling after ICV-STZ was demonstrated by reduced IRS-1, PI3K, AKT, BDNF gene expression, and increased GSK-3β, NF-κB gene expression with the help of qRT-PCR. CrPic treatment produced an improvement in insulin signaling revealed by increased gene expression of IRS-1, PI3-K, AKT, BDNF, and decreased gene expression of GSK-3β and NF-κB. It was concluded that CrPic reversed AD pathology revealed by improved memory, reduced oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction, and upregulated insulin signaling.