Molecular, Cellular, and Animal Experiments in Formaldehyde Study

Alzheimer’s disease (AD), which is involved in many molecular pathways in the human central nervous system, is a multifactorial complex neurodegenerative disease. The failure of the recent development of AD therapeutic agents in clinical trials is mainly due to their single-target or single-pathogenic pathway effect or late time window for treatments. Anabolism and metabolism of formaldehyde are also involved in many pathways and genes. According to the recent studies, endogenous formaldehyde is positively related with the severity of age-related cognitive impairment, showing approximately 40% AD patients suffering from dysmetabolism of formaldehyde. Furthermore, administration of low concentration of methanol in monkeys, a precursor compound for formaldehyde, induces cognitive impairment accompanied with Aβ deposition and formation of senile plaque, Tau hyperphosphorylation, and aggregation. These evidences suggest that formaldehyde plays a role in the progression of AD. To clarify the relationship between formaldehyde and age-related cognitive impairment, useful models are urgently required. Establishment of proper models is beneficial to enlighten the understanding of the role of formaldehyde in the neurodegenerative disease, especially age-related cognitive impairment. In this chapter, we review some useful protocol examples in the experiments including molecular, cellular, and animal models involved in formaldehyde study from or for our colleagues.