Aging is characterized by a progressive deterioration in physiological functions that is associated with
cognitive decline as well as other physical functional impairments. Microglia activation leading to
neuroinflammation has been generally recognized as playing a critical role in the development of age-related
cognitive decline. NLRP3
inflammasome in microglia is fundamental for IL-1β maturation and subsequent inflammatory events. However, it remains unknown whether NLRP3 activation contributes to aging-induced
cognitive decline in vivo. Here, our study demonstrated that aging rats showed declined cognitive function and impaired synaptic plasticity as well as decreased density of dendritic spines. Importantly, our data demonstrated strongly enhanced expression of NLRP3, ASC and Caspase-1 in the hippocampus of aged rats as well as decreased
AMPA receptor and phosphorylated levels of
CaMKII and CREB in the hippocampus of natural aging rats. Furthermore, NLRP3
inflammasome inhibitor elevated the surface expression of
AMPA receptor and the phosphorylated levels of
CaMKII, CREB in hippocampus, and finally contributed to the attenuation of hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP) deficits and the improvement of
cognitive decline of natural aging rats. These results revealed an important role for the NLRP3-Caspase-1 pathway in aging-induced
cognitive decline and suggested that inhibition of NLRP3
inflammasome represented a novel therapeutic intervention for aging-related
cognitive impairment.