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
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Book ChapterDOI
Nerve Growth Factor in Vivo Actions on Cholinergic Neurons in the Adult Rat CNS
TL;DR: Neurite-Promoting Factors specifically stimulate the outgrowth of neuronal processes (“neuritis”) and may assist, but not substitute for, the required NTFs, while NeuronoTrophic Factors are special proteins controlling survival, growth and functional capabilities of selected populations of neurons.
Journal ArticleDOI
Sensitivity of Fischer 344 x brown Norway hybrid rats to exogenous NGF: weight loss correlates with stimulation of striatal choline acetyltransferase.
TL;DR: There was a significant correlation between weight gain and stimulation of striatal ChAT activity, but not with stimulation of basal forebrain ChAT, and the NGF effect on weight gain may be mediated by cholinergic stimulation of the nucleus accumbens.
Journal ArticleDOI
In utero gene transfer reveals survival effects of nerve growth factor on rat brain cholinergic neurones during development
TL;DR: The present results suggest that overexpression of NGF during development may promote the survival of distinct populations of central cholinergic neurones into adulthood.
Journal ArticleDOI
Age-related changes in the NADPH-diaphorase-positive neuronal perikarya of the dorsolateral column of the periaqueductal gray in the rat.
TL;DR: Mild changes in the distribution of reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate-diaphorase positive neuronal perikarya in the rostral, middle and caudal parts of the dorsolateral periaqueductal gray in 3, 12 and 26-month-old rats could lead to alterations in the brain physiology of aging.
Book ChapterDOI
Neural transplantation and recovery of function: animal studies.
TL;DR: The modern era commenced only in the mid-seventies, when two critical observations created a new zeitgeist by showing that neural transplants possessed the potential for a greater understanding of development and plasticity within the CNS, functional interrelationships between neural systems and, of most importance, the capacity to repair damaged neuronal circuits and functional systems.
References
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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.