| Abstract | Alzheimer's disease (AD), a form of dementia, is the 6th leading cause of death in the U.S. and its incidence continues to climb. One of the primary areas of study in this field is the role of environmental factors in disease progression. The prevalence of stress in society is ubiquitous with chronic stressors such as personal finances, work, and the economy ranking as the top causes of stress. Studies examining the role of chronic unpredictable stress (CUS) in AD progression have exhibited a deleterious effect in familial AD (FAD) models. FAD, however, only accounts for a small proportion of the AD seen in humans. The aim of this present study was to elucidate the relationship between CUS, inflammation, and AD pathology in non-transgenic mice. Both stress and inflammation have been independently shown to negatively affect AD pathology. We hypothesized that aggravating the stress response by exposing mice to CUS for 28 days while simultaneously introducing inflammation via lipopolysaccharide (LPS) injections during the final 7 days would further exacerbate the cognitive deficits and AD pathology compared to control groups. |
