Faculty Collaboration Database

Aging and cholinergic deafferentation alter GluR1 expression in rat frontal cortex. Neurobiol Aging 2005 Jul;26(7):1073-81

Date

03/08/2005

Pubmed ID

15748787

DOI

10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2004.09.005

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-14644434390 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   16 Citations

Abstract

Previously, we demonstrated that plasticity of frontal cortex is altered in aging rats: lesions of the nucleus basalis magnocellularis (NBM) produce larger declines in dendritic morphology in frontal cortex of aged rats compared to young adults. Cholinergic afferents from the NBM modulate glutamatergic transmission in neocortex, and glutamate is known to be involved in dendritic plasticity. To begin to identify possible mechanisms underlying age-related differences in plasticity after NBM lesion, we assessed the effect of cholinergic deafferentation on expression of the AMPA receptor subunit GluR1 in frontal cortex of young adult and aging rats. Young adult, middle-aged, and aged rats received sham or 192 IgG-saporin lesions of the NBM, and an unbiased stereological technique was used to estimate the total number of intensely GluR1-immunopositive neurons in layer II-III of frontal cortex. While the number of GluR1-positive neurons was increased in both middle-aged and aged rats, lesions markedly increased the number of intensely GluR1-immunopositive neurons in frontal cortex of young adult rats only. This age-related difference in lesion-induced expression of AMPA receptor subunit protein could underlie the age-related differences in dendritic plasticity after NBM lesions.

Author List

Kim I, Wilson RE, Wellman CL

Author

Irene Kim MD Assistant Professor in the Neurosurgery department at Medical College of Wisconsin

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Acetylcholinesterase
Age Factors
Aging
Analysis of Variance
Animals
Antibodies, Monoclonal
Basal Nucleus of Meynert
Cell Count
Cholinergic Agents
Cholinergic Fibers
Frontal Lobe
Gene Expression Regulation
Immunohistochemistry
Immunotoxins
Male
N-Glycosyl Hydrolases
Neurons
Rats
Rats, Inbred F344
Receptors, AMPA
Ribosome Inactivating Proteins, Type 1
Stereotaxic Techniques