TY - JOUR T1 - Combined Treatment With Environmental Enrichment and (-)-Epigallocatechin-3-Gallate Ameliorates Learning Deficits and Hippocampal Alterations in a Mouse Model of Down Syndrome JF - eneuro JO - eNeuro DO - 10.1523/ENEURO.0103-16.2016 VL - 3 IS - 5 SP - ENEURO.0103-16.2016 AU - Silvina Catuara-Solarz AU - Jose Espinosa-Carrasco AU - Ionas Erb AU - Klaus Langohr AU - Juan Ramon Gonzalez AU - Cedric Notredame AU - Mara Dierssen Y1 - 2016/09/01 UR - http://www.eneuro.org/content/3/5/ENEURO.0103-16.2016.abstract N2 - Intellectual disability in Down syndrome (DS) is accompanied by altered neuro-architecture, deficient synaptic plasticity, and excitation-inhibition imbalance in critical brain regions for learning and memory. Recently, we have demonstrated beneficial effects of a combined treatment with green tea extract containing (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) and cognitive stimulation in young adult DS individuals. Although we could reproduce the cognitive-enhancing effects in mouse models, the underlying mechanisms of these beneficial effects are unknown. Here, we explored the effects of a combined therapy with environmental enrichment (EE) and EGCG in the Ts65Dn mouse model of DS at young age. Our results show that combined EE-EGCG treatment improved corticohippocampal-dependent learning and memory. Cognitive improvements were accompanied by a rescue of cornu ammonis 1 (CA1) dendritic spine density and a normalization of the proportion of excitatory and inhibitory synaptic markers in CA1 and dentate gyrus. ER -