Age-related changes in basal dendrite and dendritic spine of hippocampal pyramidal neurons (CA1) among SAMP1TA/Ngs--quantitative analysis by the rapid Golgi method.
It has been confirmed that a substrain of the senescence-accelerated mouse SAMP1TA/Ngs develops learning disturbance-like behavior at 3 months of age, exhibits almost normal behavior at 5 months, and manifests learning disturbance at 7 months. The changes with age in basal dendrites and dendritic spines of CA1 pyramidal neurons were quantitatively evaluated by the Golgi method using male SAMP1TA/Ngs. The correlation between the change in learning ability and the morphometry was examined. The number of dendritic spines in the 3- and 7-month-old groups was significantly lower than that in the 5-month-old group. It is presumed that the disturbance in acquisition of learning ability at 3 months of age is secondary to the immaturity of neurons, while the learning disturbance at 7 months of age is due to neuronal aging. This substrain, which is characterized by the impairment of acquired learning ability due to senescence, is useful as a model for studies on human brain dysfunction associated with senescence.
Department of Neuropsychiatry, Nagasaki University School of Medicine, Japan.
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Kawaguchi
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Kishikawa
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M
Sakae
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Y
Nakane
D000367:Age Factors; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D002452:Cell Count; D003712:Dendrites / Q000502:physiology*; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D017966:Pyramidal Cells / Q000502:physiology*