Journal
NEUROBIOLOGY OF AGING
Volume 27, Issue 5, Pages 723-732Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC
DOI: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2005.03.010
Keywords
normal aging; learning; memory; glial priming; hippocampus; E. coli; intraperitoneal administration; interleukin-1
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Funding
- NIMH NIH HHS [5 F32 MH064339-03] Funding Source: Medline
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We report that a peripheral injection of Escherichia coli produces both anterograde and retrograde amnesia in 24 month old, but not 3 month old rats for memories that depend on the hippocampus, that is, memory of context, contextual fear, and place learning. The anterograde effect was restricted to measures of long-term memory. Short-term memory was not affected, nor did E. coli produce amnesia for auditory-cue fear conditioning. There were no age related effects on memory in vehicle-treated rats. In addition to these age-related cognitive effects of E.coli, we report that it produced a marked increased in IL-I beta levels in the hippocampus, but not in parietal cortex or serum. These findings support the hypothesis that age is a vulnerability factor that increases the likelihood that an immune challenge will produce a cognitive impairment. It is possible that this cognitive vulnerability is mediated by age-related changes in the glial environment that results in an exaggerated brain pro-inflammatory response to infection. (c) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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