Venue : CARF 
Roberto De Pasquale
Department of Physiology and Biophysics, São Paulo
Invited by Jérôme Baufreton (IMN)
Title
The effects of caffeine on synaptic plasticity and memory in the aging brain
Abstract
Caffeine consumption is believed to offer protective effects against neurodegeneration associated with aging by decreasing the production of reactive oxygen species and beta-amyloid peptide. Furthermore, caffeine may enhance cognitive processes by influencing the mechanisms of synaptic plasticity that are fundamental to memory. Specifically, in the hippocampus, caffeine has the capacity to change the modulation of plasticity governed by adenosine receptors. Several studies have indicated that chronic caffeine intake can restore long-term potentiation (LTP) in the hippocampus under pathological conditions. Drawing from these findings, we examined the effects of chronic caffeine consumption on memory and hippocampal synaptic transmission in SAMP8 animals, which serve as a model for accelerated aging and neurodegeneration. We employed behavioral tests to assess recognition memory and we applied in vitro electrophysiology techniques to evaluate excitability and synaptic transmission in the hippocampus. Our results demonstrate that chronic caffeine consumption diminishes enhances hippocampal-dependent memory, and facilitates LTP in hippocampal synapses.
Publications
5-HT-dependent synaptic plasticity of the prefrontal cortex in postnatal development. Guilherme Shigueto Vilar Higa, José Francis-Oliveira, Estevão Carlos-Lima, Alicia Moraes Tamais, Fernando da Silva Borges, Alexandre Hiroaki Kihara, Ianê Carvalho Shieh, Henning Ulrich, Silvana Chiavegatto, Roberto De Pasquale. Sci Rep. 2022 Dec 5;12(1):21015. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-23767-9.
Regulation of GABAergic neurotransmission by purinergic receptors in brain physiology and disease. Guilherme Juvenal, Guilherme Shigueto Vilar Higa, Lucas Bonfim Marques # 1, Thais Tessari Zampieri, Felipe José Costa Viana, Luiz R Britto, Yong Tang, Peter Illes, Francesco di Virgilio , Henning Ulrich, Roberto de Pasquale Purinergic Signal. 2025 Feb;21(1):149-177. doi: 10.1007/s11302-024-10034-x. Epub 2024 Jul 24.
Serotonergic neuromodulation of synaptic plasticity. Guilherme Shigueto Vilar Higa 1, Felipe José Costa Viana 2, José Francis-Oliveira 3, Emily Cruvinel 2, Thainá Soares Franchin 2, Tania Marcourakis 4, Henning Ulrich 5, Roberto De Pasquale 6 Neuropharmacology. 2024 Oct 1:257:110036. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropharm.2024.110036. Epub 2024 Jun 12.
Hippocampal Interneurons Shape Spatial Coding Alterations in Neurological Disorders. Juliane Midori Ikebara # 1 2, Renata Silva Jorge # 1, Luciana Simões. Rafagnin Marinho 1, Guilherme Shigueto Vilar Higa 1 3, Avishek Adhikari 4, Fernando M C V Reis 5, Fernando S Borges 1 6, Henning Ulrich 3, Silvia Honda Takada 1, Roberto De Pasquale 7, Alexandre Hiroaki Kihara 8. Mol Neurobiol. 2025 May 20. doi: 10.1007/s12035-025-05020-2. Online ahead of print.