title: [The neuroethological basis of learning and memory decline in aged rats].
abstract: The spatial reference and working memory abilities, GFAP-positive astrocytes and GABAergic interneurons were studied quantitatively in young, aged memory-unimpaired and aged memory-impaired rats according to their learning and memory abilities in the Morris water maze. The results showed that the prominent behavioural features of the aged memory-impaired rat were a change in the searching pattern, a decrease in the spatial reference memory, no significant decrease in the spatial working memory was observed. The decrease of GABAergic neurons, and the increase of GFAP-positive astrocytes in the dentate gyrus of the aged memory-impaired rat were more obvious than the other two groups. The main abnormalities of morphologic indexes were closely correlated with the decline of learning and memory in the aged rat.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Sun Yat-sen University of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou.
authors.forename: Z J
authors.initials: ZJ
authors.lastname: Ke
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology*; D000818:Animals; D018891:Dentate Gyrus / Q000473:pathology; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein / Q000378:metabolism*; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000378:metabolism; D008568:Memory; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid