Zheng Zhao

Publications (3)4.09 Total impact

• Article: Advances in the Pathogenesis of Alzheimer's Disease: Focusing on Tau-Mediated Neurodegeneration.

  Yale Duan, Suzhen Dong, Feng Gu, Yinghe Hu, Zheng Zhao
  [show abstract] [hide abstract]
  ABSTRACT: In addition to senile plaques and cerebral amyloid angiopathy, the hyperphosphorylation of tau protein and formation of intraneuronal neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) represents another neuropathological hallmark in AD brain. Tau is a microtubule-associated protein and localizes predominantly in the axons of neurons with the primary function in maintaining microtubules stability. When the balance between tau phosphorylation and dephosphorylation is changed in favor of the former, tau is hyperphosphorylated and the level of the free tau fractions elevated. The hyperphosphorylation of tau protein and formation of NFTs represent a characteristic neuropathological feature in AD brain. We have discussed the role of Abeta in AD in our previous review, this review focused on the recent advances in tau-mediated AD pathology, mainly including tau hyperphosphorylation, propagation of tau pathology and the relationship between tau and Abeta.
  Translational neurodegeneration. 12/2012; 1(1):24.
• Source

  Available from: Ellen Siobhan Mitchell

  Article: Curcumin enhances neurogenesis and cognition in aged rats: implications for transcriptional interactions related to growth and synaptic plasticity.

  Suzhen Dong, Qingwen Zeng, E Siobhan Mitchell, Jin Xiu, Yale Duan, Chunxia Li, Jyoti K Tiwari, Yinghe Hu, Xiaohua Cao, Zheng Zhao
  [show abstract] [hide abstract]
  ABSTRACT: Curcumin has been demonstrated to have many neuroprotective properties, including improvement of cognition in humans and neurogenesis in animals, yet the mechanism of such effects remains unclear. We assessed behavioural performance and hippocampal cell proliferation in aged rats after 6- and 12-week curcumin-fortified diets. Curcumin enhanced non-spatial and spatial memory, as well as dentate gyrate cell proliferation as compared to control diet rats. We also investigated underlying mechanistic pathways that might link curcumin treatment to increased cognition and neurogenesis via exon array analysis of cortical and hippocampal mRNA transcription. The results revealed a transcriptional network interaction of genes involved in neurotransmission, neuronal development, signal transduction, and metabolism in response to the curcumin treatment. The results suggest a neurogenesis- and cognition-enhancing potential of prolonged curcumin treatment in aged rats, which may be due to its diverse effects on genes related to growth and plasticity.
  PLoS ONE 01/2012; 7(2):e31211. · 4.09 Impact Factor
• Chapter: Genome-Wide Expression Profiles of Amygdala and Hippocampus in Mice After Fear Conditioning

  Zheng Zhao, Yinghe Hu
  [show abstract] [hide abstract]
  ABSTRACT: The amygdala and hippocampus are known to be involved in the formation of fear conditioning memories, and both contextual and cued fear memory requires activation of the NMDA receptors. However, the global molecular responses to fear conditioning in the amygdala and hippocampus are still poorly understood. We have systematically analyzed the gene expression profiles in these two brain regions of mice after fear conditioning treatment using high-density microarrays containing 11,000 genes and expressed sequence tags. A total of 222 genes in the amygdala and 145 genes in the hippocampus exhibit dynamic changes in their expression levels. The overall patterns of gene expression as well as the individual genes are drastically different in amygdala and hippocampus. However, a number of genes display similar regulatory responses in both brain regions. Based on the expression kinetics, the genes can be further grouped into eight and six unique clusters in amygdale and hippocampus, respectively. Our gene expression analysis demonstrates that different genomic responses are initiated in the amygdala and hippocampus, two brain regions that play distinct roles in associative memory formation. KeywordsHigh-density microarrays-Fear memory-Associative learning-Gene function-GluR1
  12/2010: pages 303-329;