Cognitive impairment and morphological changes in the dorsal hippocampus of very old female rats

MOREL G; ANDERSEN T; PARDO J.; ZUCCOLILLI G; CAMBIAGGI V; HEREÑÚ C. *(EQUALLY CONTRIBUTION); GOYA R *(EQUALLY CONTRIBUTION)

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2015

he 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 4-6 months old (young), 26 months old (old) and 29-32 months old (senile) Sprague?Dawley female rats as well as the agerelated 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 (PT), 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 unb