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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Journal ArticleDOI
Systemic treatment with GPI 1046 improves spatial memory and reverses cholinergic neuron atrophy in the medial septal nucleus of aged mice.
TL;DR: It is concluded that chronic systemic treatment with GPI 1046 positively affects memory mechanisms in the aged mouse, possibly by acting on the septohippocampal cholinergic system.
Journal ArticleDOI
Effects of acetyl-l-carnitine treatment and stress exposure on the nerve growth factor receptor (p75NGFR) mRNA level in the central nervous system of aged rats
P.Jay Foreman,P.Jay Foreman,J. Regino Perez-Polo,Luciano Angelucci,Maria Teresa Ramacci,Giulio Taglialatela +5 more
TL;DR: The present results suggest a neuroprotective effect for ALCAR on central cholinergic neurons exerted at the level of transcription of p75NGFR, which could increase trophic support by NGF of these central nervous system neurons which are implicated in degenerative events associated with aging.
Book ChapterDOI
Nerve growth factor function in the central nervous system.
TL;DR: Subsequent experiments support a neurotrophic role for NGF in the CNS, although in the cholinergic rather than catecholaminergic system of CNS neurons, as in the PNS.
Journal ArticleDOI
Recombinant human basic fibroblast growth factor (rhbFGF) induces secretion of nerve growth factor (NGF) in cultured rat astroglial cells.
TL;DR: Recombinant human basic fibroblast growth factor was found to induce secretion of nerve growth factor (NGF) in cultured astrocytes from rat brain and this results suggest that rhbFGF may exert a neurotrophic effect on the central nervous system through the induction of NGF secretion by astroCytes.
Journal ArticleDOI
Branching enhancement by basic fibroblast growth factor in cut neurite of hippocampal neurons
TL;DR: Results suggest that bFGF prevents neuronal death through promoting the branching of the cut neurite in primary cultured hippocampal neurons with a suppression of the neurite's re-elongation.
References
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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.