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      Short-term environmental enrichment enhances synaptic plasticity in hippocampal slices from aged rats

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          Abstract

          Age-associated changes in cognition are mirrored by impairments in cellular models of memory and learning, such as long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD). In young rodents, environmental enrichment (EE) can enhance memory, alter LTP and LTD, as well as reverse cognitive deficits induced by aging. Whether short-term EE can benefit cognition and synaptic plasticity in aged rodents is unclear. Here, we tested if short-term EE could overcome age-associated impairments in induction of LTP and LTD. LTP and LTD could not be induced in the CA1 region of hippocampal slices in control, aged rats using standard stimuli that are highly effective in young rats. However, exposure of aged littermates to EE for three weeks enabled successful induction of LTP and LTD. EE-facilitated LTP was dependent upon N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDARs). These alterations in synaptic plasticity occurred with elevated levels of phosphorylated cAMP response element-binding protein and vascular endothelial growth factor, but in the absence of changes in several other synaptic and cellular markers. Importantly, our study suggests that even a relatively short period of EE is sufficient to alter synaptic plasticity and molecular markers linked to cognitive function in aged animals.

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          Author and article information

          Journal
          7605074
          6087
          Neuroscience
          Neuroscience
          Neuroscience
          0306-4522
          1873-7544
          8 June 2016
          18 May 2016
          4 August 2016
          04 August 2017
          : 329
          : 294-305
          Affiliations
          [a ]Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 South Euclid Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
          [c ]The Taylor Family Institute for Innovative Psychiatric Research, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 South Euclid Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
          [d ]Center for Brain Research in Mood Disorders, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 South Euclid Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
          [e ]Department of Neuroscience, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 South Euclid Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
          Author notes
          [* ]Correspondence: Yukitoshi Izumi, Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine 660 South Euclid Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA. izumiy@ 123456wustl.edu Tel: 314-747-2987 Fax: 314-747-1896
          [b]

          Present address: Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease and Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA.

          Article
          PMC4924801 PMC4924801 4924801 nihpa792168
          10.1016/j.neuroscience.2016.05.020
          4924801
          27208617
          f1f57436-04c5-41f0-a9f6-405398203987
          History
          Categories
          Article

          Aging,Environmental enrichment,Long-term potentiation,Long-term depression,N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor

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