Lifelong rapamycin administration ameliorates age-dependent cognitive deficits by reducing IL-1β and enhancing NMDA signaling
What this study shows
Mice were fed rapamycin in their food either from 2 months of age or only from 15 months, when age-related memory deficits were already present, and all were tested at 18 months in a water maze (20 mice per group). Mice treated from 2 months learned the hidden-platform location faster and spent more time in the target quadrant in the memory test (28.7 vs 21.3 seconds for controls), while mice started at 15 months did no better than controls. Both rapamycin groups had lower phosphorylation of S6K in the brain, a marker of mTOR activity. The improvement in the early-treated mice went together with lower IL-1beta in brain and hippocampus and higher phosphorylation of the NMDA receptor subunit NR2B and of CREB, which the authors propose as the route. Boundary: Mice of one mixed strain, normal ageing (not an Alzheimer model); the late-start arm showed no reversal of existing deficits, and the IL-1beta and NMDA links are correlations, not tested by blocking them.
At a glance
| Evidence type | A Animal model Marked A because it is an animal intervention or observation study measuring an organismal outcome (model: C57BL6/129svj mice (n=20 per group): encapsulated rapamycin in food (14 mg/kg food) from 2 to 18 months, from 15 to 18 months, or control diet; Morris water maze; brain cytokines, p-S6K, NR2B and CREB phosphorylation); the code names the system studied -- animal work can be rigorous and still not be human data. |
| Study type | 4 - Animal Study |
| Model system | C57BL6/129svj mice (n=20 per group): encapsulated rapamycin in food (14 mg/kg food) from 2 to 18 months, from 15 to 18 months, or control diet; Morris water maze; brain cytokines, p-S6K, NR2B and CREB phosphorylation |
| Journal | Aging Cell |
| Year | 2012 |
| Peer reviewed | Yes |
| Record last updated | 2026-10-01 |
| Source | DOI 10.1111/j.1474-9726.2011.00791.x · PMID 22212527 · Free full text (PMC3306461) |
Extracted findings
These fields were extracted from the paper with AI assistance and have not been checked against the source. Read them as a pointer into the paper, not as curated claims; where they disagree with the curated summary above, the curated summary stands.
| Intervention | Encapsulated rapamycin in diet (14 mg/kg food), from 2 or from 15 months of age to 18 months |
| Target | mTOR |
| Model | Mouse (C57BL6/129svj) |
| Effect | Early lifelong rapamycin prevents age-dependent spatial learning/memory decline; late start (15 months) does not reverse it |
In the Atlas
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