title: Age-related change of neuropeptide Y-immunoreactive neurons in the cerebral cortex of aged rats.
abstract: Recent studies have explored certain changes with aging of neurons containing neuropeptides. The extent of loss in aged central nervous system (CNS) of neuronal cells containing neuropeptide Y (NPY) has not yet been established with certainty, and available data is often contradictory. Changes of NPY-containing neurons with aging in the cerebral cortex of aged rat were demonstrated by immunocytochemistry. A major loss of NPY-immunoreactive (ir) neurons in the aged rat brain was observed in the retrosplenial cortex, frontal cortex area 1 and 2, parietal cortex area 1 and 2, occipital cortex area 1 and 2, temporal cortex area 3, cingulate cortex and the hippocampus proper. A loss of NPY-ir neurons was observed mostly in layers V and VI; in addition, the number and length of dendritic branches appeared to be decreased and shortened in the age group. These results indicate the involvement of NPY-ir neurons in the aging process of cerebral cortex, and provide the first morphological evidence for the loss of NPY neurons in the cerebral cortex of aged rats.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, Chongno-Gu, South Korea.
authors.forename: C I
authors.initials: CI
authors.lastname: Cha
authors.forename: Y I
authors.initials: YI
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: K H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: S H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Baik
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D003712:Dendrites / Q000648:ultrastructure; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D009478:Neuropeptide Y / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D014018:Tissue Distribution
chemical_list: D009478:Neuropeptide Y