PONE-D-20-09948

Aromatherapy improves cognitive dysfunction in senescence-accelerated mouse prone 8 by reducing the level of amyloid beta and tau phosphorylation.

PLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Okuda:

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Reviewers questioned the use of only male mice in the study. Some problems with statistical analyses of the data was also noted.

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Hemant K. Paudel

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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Reviewers' comments:

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Comments to the Author

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

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Reviewer #1: This is a good article. There are a few lacunae. Why was Y maze test specifically chosen. What would be the approximate amounts of aromatic oils required if the subject was human. I recommend that the article be published after minor revision

Reviewer #2: The manuscript entitled “Aromatherapy improves cognitive dysfunction in senescence-accelerated mouse prone 8 by reducing the level of amyloid beta and tau phosphorylation”, by Okuda et al. studied the effect of aromatherapy in three-month-old male senescence-accelerated mouse prone 8 model. The research is novel and interesting. The manuscript is well written. Most conclusions are supported by the results presented. Authors studied AD manifestations both at protein and behavioral levels, correlating the science to the previous research published by the authors in AD patients. There are some minor concerns which if addressed, would significantly improve clarity of the work to the readers.

Minor Comments:

1. In the present study, authors claim to evaluate the “mechanism of action” of aromatherapy, but no mechanism of action is proposed or discussed at a molecular level. Please clarify?

2. Please provide reasoning for only selecting male mice in this study.

3. How was the duration of treatment (9 weeks) selected?

4. Lines 212-214 state: “in the aromatherapy group, the percentage of spontaneous alternations remained at the same level as at the start of treatment (64.4% ± 2.2%). The difference between the two groups was significant (P = 0.001, Mann-Whitney test). There was no change in the total number of arm entries in either group (P = 0.14, M-W test, Fig. 1D).”

These sentences are unclear. Also, 64.4% ± 2.2% does not seem to be at the same level with the values reported for control. Please reword these sentences for clarity.

5. Providing a table for control and treatment groups, with days and type of treatment would be beneficial to the readers.

6. Manuscript contains some typographical errors.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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Aromatherapy improves cognitive dysfunction in senescence-accelerated mouse prone 8 by reducing the level of amyloid beta and tau phosphorylation.

PONE-D-20-09948R1

Dear Dr. Okuda:

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication.

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Kind regards,

Hemant K. Paudel

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments: