d-Serine enhances impaired long-term potentiation in CA1 subfield of hippocampal slices from aged senescence-accelerated mouse prone/8

The molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the cognitive deficiency of senescence-accelerated mouse prone/8 (SAMP8) have been attributed to many pathological changes in neurons. Recently, increasing evidence has shown that astrocytes, by mean of d-serine, involve in the process of synaptic transmission. Here we reported that the long-term potentiation (LTP) in CA1 area of hippocampal slices prepared from 2-, 6- and 12-month-old SAMP8 significantly decreased with age. Meanwhile, the LTP in the slices of 6- and 12-month-old mice markedly decreased below that of the age-matched normal strain SAMR1. Supplement with exogenous d-serine, a main product of astrocytes and a coagonist at the “glycin-binding” site of N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptors, not only directly enhanced the deficient LTP but also rescued the abolished LTP by d-amino acid oxidase (DAAO) in slices from 12-month-old SAMP8. This ameliorative effect of d-serine was inhibited by either AP-V or 5,7-dichlorokynurenic acid (DCKA). These results suggest that absence of d-serine or dysfunction of the astrocytes possibly was one of mechanisms underlying the decrease of NMDA receptor-dependent LTP and cognition in aged SAMP8.