IVIg protects the 3xTg-AD mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease from memory deficit and Aβ pathology

Table 1 Experimental design

Age at beginning	Treatment duration	Group/treatment	Age at sacrifice	Behavioral tests	Postmortem analyses
Experiment I
9.0 ± 0.1 months of age	3-month treatment	27 i.p. injections (two/week)	12.0 ± 0.1 months of age	Novel object recognition (NOR) task	Brain: ELISA quantification, Western blots, immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence
		NonTg: ctrl (n = 8, 50% F)		Dark-light box emergence test	Blood, whole blood and plasma: saphenous vein blood (after 25 injections), flow cytometry and ELISA
		3xTg-AD: ctrl (n = 13, 54% F)/1.5 g/kg IVIg (n = 12, 50% F)			Bone marrow, cells: flow cytometry
		Ctrl/vehicle: endotoxin free glycine 0.2 M pH 4.25			Splenocytes: flow cytometry and ELISPOT
Experiment II
12.9 ± 0.2 and 14.8 ± 0.2 months of age	3-month treatment	27 i.p. injections (two/week) (12.9 ± 0.2 months of age)	15.9 ± 0.2 months of age	NOR task	Brain: ELISA quantification, Western blots
		NonTg: ctrl (n = 8, 50% F)/1.5 g/kg IVIg (n = 8, 50% F)		Barnes maze (3xTg-AD mice, 3-month treatment only)	Blood, whole blood and plasma: intracardiac blood (at sacrifice), flow cytometry and ELISA
		3xTg-AD: ctrl (n = 14, 50% F)/1.5 g/kg IVIg (n = 13, 46% F)		Open field
	1-month treatment	Nine i.p. injections (two/week) (14.8 ± 0.2 months of age)
	1-month treatment	NonTg: ctrl (n = 8, 50% F)
		3xTg-AD: ctrl (n = 14, 50% F)/1.5 g/kg IVIg (n = 13, 46% F)

IVIg, Gamunex™ (Grifols Canada Ltd., Mississauga, ON, Canada). 3xTg-AD, triple-transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease; ctrl, control; ELISA, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; ELISPOT, enzyme-linked immunosorbent spot; F, female; i.p., intraperitoneal; IVIg, intravenous immunoglobulin; NonTg, non-transgenic; NOR, novel object recognition.

ISSN: 1742-2094