ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Aging Neurosci.
Sec. Neurocognitive Aging and Behavior
Volume 17 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2025.1622816
Music elicits different gene expression responses in the buccal cavity of age-related cognitive disorders patients and healthy controls
Provisionally accepted
Alberto Gómez-Carballa1,2
Laura Navarro2
Nour Mallah1,2Xabier Bello1,2
Sara Pischedda1,2Sandra Viz-Lasheras1,2María José Currás1,2Isabel Ferreirós-Vidal1,2
Narmeen Mallah1,2Julián Montoto-Louzao1,2Alba Camino-Mera1,2Lúa Castelo-Martínez1,2Sara Rey-Vázquez1,2Lorenzo Redondo1,2Ana Dacosta-Urbieta1,2Irene Rivero-Calle1,2Carmen Rodriguez- Tenreiro1,2Federico Martinón-Torres1,2
Antonio Salas1*- 1University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
- 2idis, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
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Recent evidence suggests that external stimuli can shape transcriptomes (sensogenomics). Specifically, the analysis of capillary blood samples has shown that musical stimuli can modulate gene expression patterns, in healthy individuals but also in those with age-related cognitive disorders (ACD), based on. Here, we present groundbreaking evidence indicating that brief exposure to music can also impact the salivary transcriptome in both healthy donors and ACD patients. Our findings reveal that music has a more pronounced effect on patients compared to controls, inducing global gene expression changes towards upregulation in ACD patients but downregulation in controls. The most significantly dysregulated genes in ACD patients include LGALS3 (downregulated) and CXCL8 (upregulated), whereas in controls, THOP1 was the top significant gene (downregulated). These genes play important roles in normal brain functions and are also altered in neurodegenerative conditions. Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Analysis reveals relevant and significant modules, both positive and negative correlated with music, implicated in neurodegenerative (e.g. autophagy) and immunological processes (e.g. IL-1, MHC). This sheds light on the complex interplay between music and molecular responses in the human body. This study underscores the potential of musical stimuli to influence gene expression patterns outside of systemic circulation, paving the way for further exploration of music’s therapeutic effects.
Keywords: Alzheimer's disease, Dementia, Saliva, Mild Cognitive Impairment, music stimuli, RNA-Seq, Transcriptome
Received: 06 May 2025; Accepted: 02 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Gómez-Carballa, Navarro, Mallah, Bello, Pischedda, Viz-Lasheras, Currás, Ferreirós-Vidal, Mallah, Montoto-Louzao, Camino-Mera, Castelo-Martínez, Rey-Vázquez, Redondo, Dacosta-Urbieta, Rivero-Calle, Rodriguez- Tenreiro, Martinón-Torres and Salas. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Antonio Salas, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
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