Early treatment of minocycline alleviates white matter and cognitive impairments after chronic cerebral hypoperfusion

Subcortical ischemic vascular dementia (SIVD) caused by chronic cerebral hypoperfusion develops with progressive white matter and cognitive impairments, yet no effective therapy is available. We investigated the temporal effects of minocycline on an experimental SIVD exerted by right unilateral common carotid arteries occlusion (rUCCAO). Minocycline treated at the early stage (day 0–3), but not the late stage after rUCCAO (day 4–32) alleviated the white matter and cognitive impairments, and promoted remyelination. The actions of minocycline may not involve the inhibition of microglia activation, based on the effects after the application of a microglial activation inhibitor, macrophage migration inhibitory factor, and co-treatment with lipopolysaccharides. Furthermore, minocycline treatment at the early stage promoted the proliferation of oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) in subventricular zone, increased OPC number and alleviated apoptosis of mature oligodendrocytes in white matter. In vitro, minocycline promoted OPC proliferation and increased the percentage of OPCs in S and G2/M phases. We provided direct evidence that early treatment is critical for minocycline to alleviate white matter and cognitive impairments after chronic cerebral hypoperfusion, which may be due to its robust effects on OPC proliferation and mature oligodendrocyte loss. So, early therapeutic time window may be crucial for its application in SIVD.