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Distribution of insulin in trigeminal nerve and brain after intranasal administration
Open accessAbstract
In the brain, insulin acts as a growth factor, regulates energy homeostasis, and is involved in learning and memory acquisition. Many central nervous system (CNS) diseases are characterized by deficits in insulin signaling. Pre-clinical studies have shown that intranasal insulin is neuroprotective in models of Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and traumatic brain injury. Clinical trials have also shown that intranasal insulin elicits beneficial cognitive effects in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. It is known that insulin can be detected in the CNS within minutes following intranasal administration. Despite these advances, the anatomical pathways that insulin utilizes to reach the CNS and the cellular CNS targets after intranasal administration are not fully understood. Here, we intranasally administered fluorescently labeled insulin and imaged its localization within the brain and trigeminal nerves. Our data indicates that intranasal insulin can reach cellular CNS targets along extracellular components of the trigeminal nerve. Upon CNS entry, we found insulin significantly increased levels of an activated form of the insulin receptor. These findings suggest that the intranasal route of administration is able to effectively deliver insulin to CNS targets in a biologically active form.
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“In rats, transport along trigeminal nerve branches to brainstem regions has also been demonstrated.”
From Intranasal insulin (2021) · cites this paper as [34]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Lochhead, J. J., Kellohen, K. L., Ronaldson, P. T., & Davis, T. P.
- Affiliations
- University of Arizona (US)
- Corresponding author
- Lochhead, Jeffrey J.
- Venue
- Scientific Reports
- Published
- 2019-02-22
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 2621-2621
- ISSN
- 2045-2322 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC6385374
- OpenAlex
- W2917482585
- Cited by
- 146
- References
- 52
- Citations by year
- 2026: 17 · 2025: 24 · 2024: 19 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 21 · 2021: 20 · 2020: 21 · 2019: 6
- FWCI
- 7.26
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Scientific Reports (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- American Heart Association (18CDA34110454)
- U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | NIH | National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (042652)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics › Pharmaceutical Science › Advanced Drug Delivery Systems
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Barrier Structure and Function Studies
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Alzheimer's disease research and treatments
- Keywords
- intranasal insulin, trigeminal nerve, insulin receptor activation, insulin receptor tyrosine kinase, neuroprotection, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, traumatic brain injury, insulin signaling
- MeSH terms
- Administration, Intranasal, Animals, Brain, Female, Humans, Insulin, Receptor, Insulin, Tissue Distribution, Trigeminal Nerve, Fluorescein-5-isothiocyanate, Rats, Sprague-Dawley, Phosphotyrosine
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