Attenuated lesion-induced N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) plasticity in the dentate gyrus of aged rats following perforant path lesions.
Young animals demonstrate a significant upregulation of N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor 1 (NMDAR1) in the outer molecular layer (OML) of the dentate gyrus following a total unilateral ablation of the perforant path, and this response presumably facilitates a degree of functional recovery. Aged animals have attenuated responses to lesion-induced synaptic plasticity as compared with young subjects, and in fact display decreased synaptogenesis and sprouting following a unilateral perforant path lesion. To investigate the response of NMDAR1 in the dentate gyrus of aged animals to perforant path ablation, 24-month-old Sprague-Dawley male rats received a unilateral knife cut of the angular bundle. Our results demonstrated that aged animals displayed a blunted response to lesion-induced NMDA receptor-mediated plasticity, suggesting that aged animals have an impaired ability to respond to deafferentation through an increase in NMDA receptor levels in the deafferented zone.
Adams
M M
MM
Kastor Neurobiology of Aging Laboratories, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, New York 10029-6574, USA.
Gazzaley
A H
AH
Morrison
J H
JH
D000367:Age Factors; D000375:Aging / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D018891:Dentate Gyrus / Q000378:metabolism*; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D008297:Male; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology*; D019580:Perforant Pathway / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate / Q000378:metabolism*
D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate