Aging impairs amygdala-hippocampus interactions involved in hippocampal LTP

Aging impairs amygdala-hippocampus interactions involved in hippocampal LTP. NEUROBIOL. AGING. We have recently shown that the stimulation of the basolateral nucleus of the amygdala (BLA) is able to prolong early-LTP (<4h) into late-LTP (>4h) in the dentate gyrus. To study whether aging affects this interaction, aged (24-27 months) rats were used, classified as cognitively impaired (I), or non-impaired (N) by means of their results in the Morris water maze. Paired pulses (30-90 ms interval) showed no differences among age groups. Among young controls, the early-LTP induced in the dentate gyrus by stimulation of the perforant path (PP) was prolonged in a late-LTP when the BLA was stimulated 15 min later. In aged-impaired rats the stimulation of the PP induced a reduced LTP, decaying to baseline in less than 2 h. BLA stimulation was without effect. Aged non-impaired rats showed an early-LTP identical to that of young animals; however, stimulation of the BLA showed no effect. These results suggest that deficient synaptic plasticity and memory functions in aged animals might be caused, in part by impaired mechanisms of heterosynaptic reinforcement. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.