Delayed signal transmission in area 17, area 18 and the posteromedial lateral suprasylvian area of aged cats

•The signal transmission in A17, A18 and PMLS delayed during aging.•PMLS slowed most. A18 lengthen more than A17 but not significant.•The rate of information in the subcortical part seemed immune from senescence.

To investigate the effect of senescence on signal transmission, we have compared the visual response latency and spontaneous activity of cells in the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN), area 17, area 18 and posteromedial lateral suprasylvian area (PMLS) of young and old cats. We found that LGN cells in old cats exhibit largely normal visual response latency. In contrast, all the other three areas exhibited significant aging-related delays in the visual response latency. On average, PMLS showed most pronounced delays among these three areas. Area 18 slowed more than area 17, but this was not significant. The degradation of signal timing in the visual cortex might provide insight into neuronal response mechanism underlying perception slowing during aging.