Memory deficits are associated with impaired ability to modulate neuronal excitability in middle-aged mice
- 1Northwestern University Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, Chicago, Illinois 60611, USA;
- 2Department of Physiology M211, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois 60611, USA
Abstract
Normal aging disrupts hippocampal neuroplasticity and learning and memory. Aging deficits were exposed in a subset (30%) of middle-aged mice that performed below criterion on a hippocampal-dependent contextual fear conditioning task. Basal neuronal excitability was comparable in middle-aged and young mice, but learning-related modulation of the post-burst afterhyperpolarization (AHP)—a general mechanism engaged during learning—was impaired in CA1 neurons from middle-aged weak learners. Thus, modulation of neuronal excitability is critical for retention of context fear in middle-aged mice. Disruption of AHP plasticity may contribute to contextual fear deficits in middle-aged mice—a model of age-associated cognitive decline (AACD).
Footnotes
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↵3 Corresponding author.
E-mail ckaczorowski{at}mcw.edu; fax (414) 259-0469.
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[Supplemental material is available online at www.learnmem.org.]
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Article is online at http://www.learnmem.org/cgi/doi/10.1101/lm.1365609.
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- Received February 9, 2009.
- Accepted March 25, 2009.
- Copyright © 2009 by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press