title: The aging hippocampus: cognitive, biochemical and structural findings.
abstract: Aging is often accompanied by learning and memory problems, many of which resemble deficits associated with hippocampal damage. Studies of aging in nonhuman animals have demonstrated hippocampus-related memory decline, and point to a possible locus for impairments associated with normal and pathological aging in humans. Two well-characterized hippocampus-dependent tasks in nonhuman animal literature are the Morris water task (MWT) and the transverse patterning discrimination task (TPDT). We employed the virtual MWT and the TPDT to assess hippocampus-dependent cognition in humans. Magnetic resonance imaging and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy were employed to measure hippocampal volume and neurochemistry respectively. Age-related deficits were observed in performance on both hippocampus-dependent tasks. This pattern of impairment was accompanied by decreased hippocampal NAA/Cre ratios and volume, both of which imply neuronal loss and/or decrease in neuronal density. Collectively, our results suggest that hippocampus undergoes structural and biochemical changes with normal aging and that these changes may represent an important component of age-related deterioration in hippocampus-dependent cognition.
authors: Department of Psychology, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131, USA. ira.driscoll@uleth.ca
authors: Ira
authors: I
authors: Driscoll
authors: Derek A
authors: DA
authors: Hamilton
authors: Helen
authors: H
authors: Petropoulos
authors: Ronald A
authors: RA
authors: Yeo
authors: William M
authors: WM
authors: Brooks
authors: Richard N
authors: RN
authors: Baumgartner
authors: Robert J
authors: RJ
authors: Sutherland
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D001224:Aspartic Acid / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000378:metabolism*; D002794:Choline / Q000378:metabolism*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D003401:Creatine / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D009929:Organ Size; D012737:Sex Factors; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D001224:Aspartic Acid; C000179:N-acetylaspartate; D003401:Creatine; D002794:Choline