Artículo
Cognitive impairment and morphological changes in the dorsal hippocampus of very old female rats
Morel, Gustavo Ramón
; Andersen, Tomas; Pardo, Joaquin
; Zuccolilli, Gustavo Oscar; Cambiaggi, Vanina Laura; Hereñú, Claudia Beatriz
; Goya, Rodolfo Gustavo
Fecha de publicación:
09/2015
Editorial:
Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd
Revista:
Neuroscience
ISSN:
0306-4522
Idioma:
Inglés
Tipo de recurso:
Artículo publicado
Clasificación temática:
Resumen
The hippocampus, a medial temporal lobe structure necessary for the formation of spatial memory, is particularly affected by both normal and pathologic aging. In previous studies, we observed a significant age-related increase in dopaminergic neuron loss in the hypothalamus and the substantia nigra of female rats, which becomes more conspicuous at extreme ages. Here, we extend our studies by assessing spatial memory in 4-6. month-old (young), 26-month-old (old) and 29-32-month-old (senile) Sprague-Dawley female rats as well as the age-related histopathological changes in their dorsal hippocampus. Age changes in spatial memory performance were assessed with a modified version of the Barnes maze test. We employed two probe trials (PTs), one and five days after training, respectively, in order to evaluate learning ability as well as short-term and longer-term spatial memory retention. A set of relevant hippocampal cell markers was also quantitated in the animals by means of an unbiased stereological approach. The results revealed that old rats perform better than senile rats in acquisition trials and young rats perform better than both aging groups. However, during short-term PT both aging groups showed a preserved spatial memory while in longer-term PT, spatial memory showed deterioration in both aged groups. Morphological analysis showed a marked decrease (94-97%) in doublecortin neuron number in the dentate gyrus in both aged groups and a reduction in glial fibrillary acidic protein-positive cell number in the stratum radiatum of aging rats. Astroglial process length and branching complexity decreased in aged rats. We conclude that while target-seeking activity and learning ability decrease in aged females, spatial memory only declines in the longer-term tests. The reduction in neuroblast number and astroglial arborescence complexity in the dorsal hippocampus are likely to play a role in the cognitive deficits of aging rats.
Palabras clave:
Aging
,
Barnes Maze
,
Doublecortin
,
Female-Spatial Memory
,
Gfap
,
Hippocampus
Archivos asociados
Licencia
Identificadores
Colecciones
Articulos(INIBIOLP)
Articulos de INST.DE INVEST.BIOQUIMICAS DE LA PLATA
Articulos de INST.DE INVEST.BIOQUIMICAS DE LA PLATA
Citación
Morel, Gustavo Ramón; Andersen, Tomas; Pardo, Joaquin; Zuccolilli, Gustavo Oscar; Cambiaggi, Vanina Laura; et al.; Cognitive impairment and morphological changes in the dorsal hippocampus of very old female rats; Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd; Neuroscience; 303; 9-2015; 189-199
Compartir
Altmétricas