Acta Neuropharmacologica››2012,Vol. 2››Issue (3): 43-51.

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Chronic Dehydration and Regularly Drinking Water to Mitigate Age-Related Cognitive Impairment

LI Ting, QIANG Min, HE Rong-qiao

  1. The State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China
  • Online:2012-06-26Published:2013-12-25
  • Contact:赫荣乔,男,研究员,博导;研究方向:老年性痴呆发生发展危险因素及其机制;Tel. +86-010-64889876, E-mail: rongqiaohe@163.com
  • About author:李婷,女,中国科学院生物物理研究所硕博连读生;E-mail: liaishengwu@yahoo.cn 强敏,女,中国科学院生物物理研究所硕博连读生;E-mail: qiangmin45@163.com
  • Supported by:

    国家重大基础研究计划973项目课题(No.2012CB911000、No.2010CB912303)

Abstract:Age-related cognitive impairment undergoes a continuous progression: pre-mild cognitive impairment (preMCI), mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). So far, chronic dehydration is regarded as a common symptom for the patients with age-related cognitive impairment, in particular of those with AD. Monitored with an infrared-CCD camera, a marked decrease in the drinking frequency (P<0.05) and water consumption quantity (P<0.01) of 10-month old C57 BL/6 mice was observed in comparison with that of 1-month old counterparts. On the one hand, chronic dehydration for the patients may be resulted from their declined perception of “thirsty” and loss of memory. On the other hand, dehydration causes accumulation of cytotoxic metabolic compounds such as endogenous formaldehyde, worsening cognitive impairment. The interaction between dehydration and cognitive impairment leads to a vicious circle. Furthermore, chronic impairment of central nervous system due to the disorder of formaldehyde metabolism is believed as one risk factor for age-related impairment because of the increase in endogenous formaldehyde with aging (>65 years old) and in the hippocampus of Alzheimer’s patients. Regularly drinking water relieves not only chronic dehydration for aging people, but also significantly decreases the concentration of endogenous formaldehyde, which may offer protection of central nervous system. Therefore, building the habit to regularly drink water should be emphasized at the early stage to relieve chronic dehydration and scavenge cytotoxic metabolic products including formaldehyde for aging people, which might be beneficial to mitigate age-related cognitive impairment at its early stage.

Key words:Alzheimer&,rsquo,s disease(AD),age-related cognitive impairment,regularly drinking water,endogenous formaldehyde,protection,intervention

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