title: Caenorhabditis elegans as a model system to study aging of learning and memory.
abstract: The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is an excellent model organism to study biological processes relevant to a wide variety of human and rodent disease systems. Previous studies have suggested that mutants of the insulin/insulin-like growth factor-1 pathway show life extension and increased stress resistance in various species, including C. elegans, the fruit fly, and the mouse. It has recently been shown that the life-extending mutants, including the age-1 phosphatidylinositol- 3 OH kinase mutants and the daf-2 insulin-like receptor mutants, display improvement in a type of associative learning behavior called thermotaxis learning behavior. The age-1 mutant shows a dramatic threefold extension of the health-span that ensures thermotaxis learning behavior, suggesting strong neuroprotective actions during aging. The age-1 and daf-2 mutants show resistance to multiple forms of stress and upregulates the genes involved in reactive oxygen species scavenging, heat shock, and P450 drug-detoxification. The life-extending mutants may confer resistance to various stress and diseases in neurons. Therefore, C. elegans provides an emerging system for the prevention of age-related deficits in the nervous system and in learning behaviors. This article discusses the aging of learning and memory and the neuroprotection effects of life-extending mutants on learning behaviors.
authors.affiliation: Gheens Center on Aging, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Louisville School of Medicine, Louisville, KY, USA. shin.murakami@louisville.edu
authors.forename: Shin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Murakami
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000502:physiology*; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I / Q000378:metabolism; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008124:Locomotion / Q000502:physiology; D008136:Longevity; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism; D018384:Oxidative Stress; D019869:Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D011972:Receptor, Insulin / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I; D019869:Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases; C100662:AGE-1 protein, C elegans; C107483:DAF-2 protein, C elegans; D011972:Receptor, Insulin