Research Areas of Interest:

• Aging and Neurodegeneration
• Neural basis of long-term memory (LTM).
• Synaptic tagging and capture (STC) as an elementary mechanism for storing LTM in neural networks.
• Metaplasticity as a compensatory mechanism for improving memory in neural networks.

Selected Publications

For full publication list please refer:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Sajikumar+S&sort=date

• Varma, V. R., Desai, R. J., Navakkode, S., Wong, L. W., Anerillas, C., Loeffler, T., Schilcher, I., Mahesri, M., Chin, K., Horton, D. B., Kim, S. C., Gerhard, T., Segal, J. B., Schneeweiss, S., Gorospe, M., Sajikumar, S., & Thambisetty, M. (2022). Hydroxychloroquine lowers Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias risk and rescues molecular phenotypes related to Alzheimer’s disease. Molecular psychiatry, 10.1038/s41380-022-01912-0. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-022-01912-0
• Singh, A. K., Neo, S. H., Liwang, C., Pang, K. K. L., Leng, J. C. K., Sinha, S. H., Shetty, M. S., Vasudevan, M., Rao, V. J., Joshi, I., Eswaramoorthy, M., Pavon, M. V., Sheila, A. R., Navakkode, S., Kundu, T. K., & Sajikumar, S. (2022). Glucose derived carbon nanosphere (CSP) conjugated TTK21, an activator of the histone acetyltransferases CBP/p300, ameliorates amyloid-beta 1-42 induced deficits in plasticity and associativity in hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons. Aging cell, 21(9), e13675. https://doi.org/10.1111/acel.13675
• Navakkode S, Gaunt JR, Pavon MV, Bansal VA, Abraham RP, Chong YS, Ch’ng TH*, Sajikumar S*. (2021). Sex-specific accelerated decay in time/activity-dependent plasticity and associative memory in an animal model of Alzheimer’s disease. Aging Cell. 2021 Nov 18:e13502. doi: 10.1111/acel.13502. Online ahead of print. PMID: 34796608
• Benoy A, Bin Ibrahim MZ, Behnisch T, Sajikumar S (2021). Metaplastic Reinforcement of Long-Term Potentiation in Hippocampal Area CA2 by Cholinergic Receptor Activation. Journal of Neuroscience. 2021 Nov 3;41(44):9082-9098. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2885-20.2021. Epub 2021 Sep 24. PMID: 34561235
• Wong LW, Chong YS, Lin W, Kisiswa L, Sim E, Ibáñez CF, Sajikumar S (2021). Age-related changes in hippocampal-dependent synaptic plasticity and memory mediated by p75 neurotrophin receptor. Aging Cell. 2021 Feb;20(2):e13305. doi: 10.1111/acel.13305. Epub 2021 Jan 15.
• Krishna-K K, Baby N, Raghuraman R, Navakkode S, Behnisch T, Sajikumar S (2020). Regulation of aberrant proteasome activity re-establishes plasticity and long-term memory in an animal model of Alzheimer’s disease. FASEB J. 2020 May 27. doi: 10.1096/fj.201902844RR.
• Dasgupta A, Yu Jia L, Krishna K, Baby N, Pang KKL, Benoy A, Behnisch T and Sajikumar S (2020). Group III metabotropic glutamate receptors gate long-term potentiation and synaptic tagging/capture in rat hippocampal area CA2. Elife. 2020 Apr 20;9:e55344. doi: 10.7554/eLife.55344.
• Wong LW, Chong YS, Wong WLE, Sajikumar S (2020). Inhibition of Histone Deacetylase Reinstates Hippocampus-Dependent Long-Term Synaptic Plasticity and Associative Memory in Sleep-Deprived Mice. Cereb Cortex. 2020 Jun 1;30(7):4169-4182. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhaa041.
• Baby N, Alagappan N, Dheen ST , Sajikumar S (2019). MicroRNA‐134‐5p inhibition rescues long‐term plasticity and synaptic tagging/capture in an Aβ(1–42)‐induced model of Alzheimer’s disease. Aging Cell. 2019 Oct 17:e13046. doi: 10.1111/acel.13046.
• Pang, K.K.L., Sharma, M., Krishna, K.K., Behnisch, T., Sajikumar, S. (2019). Long-term population spike-timing-dependent plasticity promotes synaptic tagging but not cross-tagging in rat hippocampal area CA1. PNAS. 116(12), 5737-5746.
• Sharma, M., Sajikumar, S. (2019). G9a/GLP Complex Acts as a Bidirectional Switch to Regulate Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor-Dependent Plasticity in Hippocampal CA1 Pyramidal Neurons. Cerebral Cortex. 29(7), 2932-2946.
• Wong, L.W., Tann, J.Y., Ibanez, C.F., Sajikumar, S. (2019). The p75 Neurotrophin Receptor Is an Essential Mediator of Impairments in Hippocampal-Dependent Associative Plasticity and Memory Induced by Sleep Deprivation. J. Neurosci. 39(28), 5452-5465.
• Sharma, M., Sajikumar, S. (2018). G9a/GLP Complex Acts as a Bidirectional Switch to Regulate Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor-Dependent Plasticity in Hippocampal CA1 Pyramidal Neurons. Cerebral Cortex. 29(7), 2932-2946.
• Dasgupta, A., Baby, N., Hakim, M., Wong, Y.P., Behnisch, T., Soong, T.W., Sajikumar, S. (2017) Substance P induces plasticity and synaptic tagging/ capture in rat hippocampal area CA2. PNAS 2017 Jun 30. 114(41), E8741-E8749
• Sharma, M., Dierkes, T., Sajikumar, S. (2017) Epigenetic regulation by G9a/GLP complex ameliorates amyloid-beta 1-42 induced deficits in long-term plasticity and synaptic tagging/capture in hippocampal pyramidal neurons. Aging Cell. 16(5), 1062-1072