Journal ArticleDOI
Amelioration of cholinergic neuron atrophy and spatial memory impairment in aged rats by nerve growth factor.
Walter Fischer,Klas Wictorin,Anders Björklund,Lawrence R. Williams,Silvio Varon,Fred H. Gage +5 more
TLDR
Continuous intracerebral infusion of NGF over a period of four weeks can partly reverse the cholinergic cell body atrophy and improve retention of a spatial memory task in behaviourally impaired aged rats.Abstract:
In aged rodents, impairments in learning and memory have been associated with an age-dependent decline in forebrain of cholinergic function, and recent evidence indicates that the cholinergic neurons in the nucleus basalis magnocellularis, the septal-diagonal band area and the striatum undergo age-dependent atrophy. Thus, as in Alzheimer-type dementia in man, degenerative changes in the forebrain cholinergic system may contribute to age-related cognitive impairments in rodents. The cause of these degenerative changes is not known. Recent studies have shown that the central cholinergic neurons in the septal-diagonal band area, nucleus basalis and striatum are sensitive to the neurotrophic protein nerve growth factor (NGF). In particular, intraventricular injections or infusions of NGF in young adult rats have been shown to prevent retrograde neuronal cell death and promote behavioural recovery after damage to the septo-hippocampal connections. It is so far not known, however, whether the atrophic cholinergic neurons in aged animals are responsive to NGF treatment. We report here that continuous intracerebral infusion of NGF over a period of four weeks can partly reverse the cholinergic cell body atrophy and improve retention of a spatial memory task in behaviourally impaired aged rats.read more
Citations
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
Nerve growth factor receptor immunoreactivity in the cerebellar cortex of aged rats: effect of choline alfoscerate treatment
TL;DR: Choline alfoscerate treatment may increase the expression of NGF receptors in the rat cerebellar cortex, which is an interesting animal model for the analysis of age-dependent changes in brain microanatomy and function.
Journal ArticleDOI
Differential effects of axotomy on substance P-containing and nicotinic acetylcholine receptor-containing retinal ganglion cells: time course of degeneration and effects of nerve growth factor.
TL;DR: The persistence of limited substance P-like immunoreactive ganglion cells 10 days after surgery indicates that these cells have a relatively protracted response to axotomy.
Journal ArticleDOI
Altered Hippocampal Epigenetic Regulation Underlying Reduced Cognitive Development in Response to Early Life Environmental Insults.
Kyle M. Schachtschneider,Michael Welge,Loretta Auvil,Sulalita Chaki,Laurie A. Rund,Ole Madsen,Monica R. P. Elmore,Rodney W. Johnson,Martien A. M. Groenen,Lawrence B. Schook,Lawrence B. Schook +10 more
TL;DR: The role of altered hippocampal DNA methylation and gene expression in early life environmentally-induced reductions in cognitive development across independent studies is supported and suggests reduced cognition in response to early life environmental insults is due to altered cholinergic signaling and calcium regulation.
Journal ArticleDOI
Therapeutic potential of nervous system growth factors for neurodegenerative disease.
TL;DR: The history of nerve growthFactor and the rationale behind targeting nerve growth factor therapy to rescue degenerating neurons of the cholinergic basal forebrain system in Alzheimer’s disease are focused on.
Journal ArticleDOI
Hormone replacement: therapeutic strategies in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and ageing-related cognitive disorders
TL;DR: The evidence for hormone replacement therapy as a possible strategy for the management of ageing-related cognitive disorders is examined, emphasising possible cellular/molecular actions of oestrogen.
References
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
Developments of a water-maze procedure for studying spatial learning in the rat
TL;DR: Developments of an open-field water-maze procedure in which rats learn to escape from opaque water onto a hidden platform are described, suggesting that they may lend themselves to a variety of behavioural investigations, including pharmacological work and studies of cerebral function.
Journal ArticleDOI
The Cholinergic Hypothesis of Geriatric Memory Dysfunction
Raymond T. Bartus,Raymond T. Bartus,Reginald L. Dean,Bernard Beer,Bernard Beer,Arnold S. Lippa,Arnold S. Lippa +6 more
TL;DR: Biochemical, electrophysiological, and pharmacological evidence supporting a role for cholinergic dysfunction in age-related memory disturbances is critically reviewed and an attempt has been made to identify pseudoissues, resolve certain controversies, and clarify misconceptions that have occurred in the literature.
Journal ArticleDOI
Book reviewHandbook of Chemical Neuroanatomy: Methods in Chemical Neuroanatomy. Edited by A. Bjorklund and T. Hokfelt. Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1983. Cloth bound, 548 pp. UK £140. (Volume 1 in the series).
Journal ArticleDOI
Nerve growth factor promotes survival of septal cholinergic neurons after fimbrial transections
TL;DR: It is suggested that fimbrial transections resulted in retrograde degeneration of cholinergic septo-hippocampal neurons and that NGF treatment strongly attenuated this lesion-induced degeneration.
Journal ArticleDOI
Nerve growth factor treatment after brain injury prevents neuronal death
TL;DR: Cholinergic neuronal degeneration after axotomy has been proposed to be due to the loss of a retrogradely transported neurotrophic factor, possibly nerve growth factor (NGF), and NGF was continuously infused into the lateral ventricles of adult rats that had received bilateral lesions of all cholinergic axons projecting from the medial septum to the dorsal hippocampus.