Music compensates for altered gene expression in age-related cognitive disorders
Alberto Gómez‐Carballa, Laura Navarro, Jacobo Pardo‐Seco, Xabier Bello, Sara Pischedda, Sandra Viz-Lasheras, Alba Camino‐Mera, María José Currás, Isabel Ferreirós, Narmeen Mallah, Sara Rey-Vázquez, Lorenzo Redondo-Collazo, Ana Dacosta-Urbieta, Fernando Caamaño-Viña, Irene Rivero‐Calle, Carmen Rodrı́guez-Tenreiro, Federico Martinón‐Torres, Antonio Salas
Abstract
Extensive literature has explored the beneficial effects of music in age-related cognitive disorders (ACD), but limited knowledge exists regarding its impact on gene expression. We analyzed transcriptomes of ACD patients and healthy controls, pre-post a music session (n = 60), and main genes/pathways were compared to those dysregulated in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) as revealed by a multi-cohort study (n = 1269 MCI/AD and controls). Music was associated with 2.3 times more whole-genome gene expression, particularly on neurodegeneration-related genes, in ACD than in controls. Co-expressed gene-modules and pathways analysis demonstrated that music impacted autophagy, vesicle and endosome organization, biological processes commonly dysregulated in MCI/AD. Notably, the data indicated a strong negative correlation between musically-modified genes/pathways in ACD and those dysregulated in MCI/AD. These findings highlight the compensatory effect of music on genes/biological processes affected in MCI/AD, providing insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying the benefits of music on these disorders.