Sensogenomics of music and Alzheimer's disease: An interdisciplinary view from neuroscience, transcriptomics, and epigenomics

Laura Navarro; Alberto Gómez-Carballa; Sara Pischedda; Julián Montoto-Louzao; Sandra Viz-Lasheras; Alba Camino-Mera; Thomas Hinault; Federico Martinón-Torres; Antonio Salas

doi:10.3389/fnagi.2023.1063536

Sensogenomics of music and Alzheimer's disease: An interdisciplinary view from neuroscience, transcriptomics, and epigenomics

Front Aging Neurosci. 2023 Feb 3:15:1063536. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2023.1063536. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Laura Navarro^{1

2

3}, Alberto Gómez-Carballa^{1

2

3}, Sara Pischedda^{1

2

3}, Julián Montoto-Louzao^{1

2

3}, Sandra Viz-Lasheras^{1

2

3}, Alba Camino-Mera^{1

2

3}, Thomas Hinault⁴, Federico Martinón-Torres^{1

3

5}, Antonio Salas^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Genetics, Vaccines and Infections Research Group (GENVIP), Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Santiago, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain.
² Unidade de Xenética, Instituto de Ciencias Forenses, Facultade de Medicina, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, and GenPoB Research Group, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria (IDIS), Hospital Clínico Universitario de Santiago (SERGAS), Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain.
³ Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Respiratorias (CIBER-ES), Madrid, Spain.
⁴ Normandie Université, UNICAEN, PSL Université Paris, EPHE, Inserm, U1077, CHU de Caen, Centre Cyceron, Neuropsychologie et Imagerie de la Mémoire Humaine, Caen, France.
⁵ Translational Pediatrics and Infectious Diseases, Department of Pediatrics, Hospital Clínico Universitario de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain.

Abstract

Introduction: The relationship between music and Alzheimer's disease (AD) has been approached by different disciplines, but most of our outstanding comes from neuroscience.

Methods: First, we systematically reviewed the state-of-the-art of neuroscience and cognitive sciences research on music and AD (>100 studies), and the progress made on the therapeutic impact of music stimuli in memory. Next, we meta-analyzed transcriptomic and epigenomic data of AD patients to search for commonalities with genes and pathways previously connected to music in genome association, epigenetic, and gene expression studies.

Results: Our findings indicate that >93% of the neuroscience/ cognitive sciences studies indicate at least one beneficial effect of music on patients with neurodegenerative diseases, being improvements on memory and cognition the most frequent outcomes; other common benefits were on social behavior, mood and emotion, anxiety and agitation, quality of life, and depression. Out of the 334 music-related genes, 127 (38%) were found to be linked to epigenome/transcriptome analysis in AD (vs. healthy controls); some of them (SNCA, SLC6A4, ASCC2, FTH1, PLAUR and ARHGAP26) have been reported to be associated e.g. with musical aptitude and music effect on the transcriptome. Other music-related genes (GMPR, SELENBP1 and ADIPOR1) associated to neuropsychiatric, neurodegenerative diseases and music performance, emerged as hub genes in consensus co-expression modules detected between AD and music estimulated transcriptomes. In addition, we found connections between music, AD and dopamine related genes, with SCNA being the most remarkable - a gene previously associated with learning and memory, and neurodegenerative disorders (e.g., Parkinson's disease and AD).

Discussion: The present study indicate that the vast majority of neuroscientific studies unambiguously show that music has a beneficial effect on health, being the most common benefits relevant to Alzheimer's disease. These findings illuminate a new roadmap for genetic research in neurosciences, and musical interventions in AD and other neurodegenerative conditions.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; RNAseq; dopamine; genes; music stimuli; transcriptome, epigenome.

Publication types

Systematic Review