title: Effects of aging and food restriction on the trigeminal ganglion: a morphometric study.
abstract: A quantitative morphometric study of the rat trigeminal ganglion was conducted to determine the changes that occur with aging. All measurements were tracked from young to old age in two rat groups simultaneously. One group was fed ad libitum, the other was maintained on restricted food intake from 6 weeks on. Immunocytochemical and radioimmunoassay techniques were used to study the neuron group that produces the peptide, CGRP and to compare it with the CGRP-negative neuron group. We observed that in the trigeminal ganglion, soma diameters and nucleus diameters of all neurons, whether CGRP positive or negative, increased modestly with age; so did total ganglion weight. Food restriction delayed, but did not prevent the increases in neuron diameters. No significant changes occurred as a function of age in the total number of neurons per ganglion, the ratio of CGRP positive to CGRP negative neurons and ganglion content of CGRP. Food restriction did not affect the parameters that remained constant with age. These findings are in contrast to the marked inhibitory effect of food restriction on age-related increase in thyroid calcitonin, a hormone that is encoded by the same gene as CGRP.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio 78284.
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Biedenbach
authors.forename: D N
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: Kalu
authors.forename: D C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Herbert
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging; D000818:Animals; D001699:Biometry; D015740:Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide / Q000032:analysis*; D002452:Cell Count; D048429:Cell Size; D005508:Food Deprivation; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D011916:Rats, Inbred F344; D013047:Specific Pathogen-Free Organisms; D012668:Trigeminal Ganglion / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure
chemical_list: D015740:Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide