title: Age-related alterations in immunoreactivity of the midsized neurofilament subunit in the brainstem reticular formation of the cat.
abstract: In the present study, we compared the immunoreactivity of the midsized subunit of neurofilaments (NF-M) in the brainstem reticular formation of adult and old cats. There was a dramatic decrease in immunoreactivity in most reticular nuclei in the old cats. The most obvious reduction in these regions occurred in dendritic arborizations. In contrast, a small number of nuclei showed a slight increase in immunoreactivity in the aged animals. The age-related changes in immunoreactivity indicate that there is an alteration of NF-M content in reticular neurons and their processes in old age. Such changes in NF-M content may be the basis for the alterations in the morphology of reticular neurons in aged animals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and the Brain Research Institute, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA.
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sampogna
authors.forename: F R
authors.initials: FR
authors.lastname: Morales
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Chase
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D001933:Brain Stem / Q000378:metabolism*; D002415:Cats; D003712:Dendrites / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D016900:Neurofilament Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D012154:Reticular Formation / Q000378:metabolism*; D014018:Tissue Distribution
chemical_list: D016900:Neurofilament Proteins; C061195:neurofilament protein M