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Age-Related Cognitive Impairments in Mice with a Conditional Ablation of the Neural Cell Adhesion Molecule
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- Additional Information
- Availability:
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press. 500 Sunnyside Boulevard, Woodbury, NY 11797-2924. Tel: 800-843-4388; Tel: 516-367-8800; Fax: 516-422-4097; e-mail: cshpres@cshl.edu; Web site: http://www.learnmem.org/
- Peer Reviewed:
Y
- Source:
11
- Subject Terms:
- Accession Number:
10.1101/lm.030064.112
- ISSN:
1072-0502
- Abstract:
Most of the mechanisms involved in neural plasticity support cognition, and aging has a considerable effect on some of these processes. The neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) of the immunoglobulin superfamily plays a pivotal role in structural and functional plasticity and is required to modulate cognitive and emotional behaviors. However, whether aging is associated with NCAM alterations that might contribute to age-related cognitive decline is not currently known. In this study, we determined whether conditional NCAM-deficient mice display increased vulnerability to age-related cognitive and emotional alterations. We assessed the NCAM expression levels in the hippocampus and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and characterized the performance of adult and aged conditional NCAM-deficient mice and their age-matched wild-type littermates in a delayed matching-to-place test in the Morris water maze and a delayed reinforced alternation test in the T-maze. Although aging in wild-type mice is associated with an isoform-specific reduction of NCAM expression levels in the hippocampus and mPFC, these mice exhibited only mild impairments in working/episodic-like memory performance. However, aged conditional NCAM-deficient mice displayed pronounced impairments in both the delayed matching-to-place and the delayed reinforced alternation tests. Importantly, the deficits of aged NCAM-deficient mice in these working/episodic-like memory tasks could not be attributed to increased anxiety-like behaviors or to differences in locomotor activity. Taken together, these data indicate that reduced NCAM expression in the forebrain might be a critical factor for the occurrence of cognitive impairments during aging.
- Abstract:
As Provided
- Publication Date:
2013
- Accession Number:
EJ1006193
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