Age-dependent deficits in spatial memory are related to impaired hippocampal kindling.
Fischer 344 rats, 3 and 26 months of age, were first tested in an eight-arm spatial maze to assess memory function behaviorally. The same animals were then subjected to hippocampal kindling to examine alterations in neuronal plasticity as a function of aging. The results indicated that spatial memory was poorer and hippocampal kindling slower in aged rats than in young ones. Furthermore, there was a striking positive relation between performance in the eight-arm spatial maze and speed of kindling. This finding suggests that age-related deficits in spatial memory and hippocampal kindling reflect decreased efficacy of synaptic transmission in a common neuroanatomical substrate.
D000375:Aging; D000818:Animals; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000502:physiology*; D007696:Kindling, Neurologic; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D011916:Rats, Inbred F344; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013569:Synapses / Q000502:physiology; D009435:Synaptic Transmission