Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
8839909 | Brain Research | 2018 | 8 Pages |
Abstract
Aging in humans and animals is associated with gradual and variable changes in some cognitive functions, but what causes them and explains individual variations remains unclear. Hydration decreases with aging but whether dehydration contributes to cognitive dysfunction is not known. The brain hydration of aging mice was determined by colloidosmotic-pressure titration. Dehydration increased with age from â¼76â¯mmHg at 6â¯weeks to â¼105â¯mmHg at 40â¯weeks, or a progressive â¼10 percent loss of brain water but seemed to level off afterward. When we adjusted dehydration in hippocampal slices of <8-week-old mice to the levels seen in mice 40â¯weeks and older, their basal synaptic responses were amplified at all stimulus voltages tested, but induction of late-phase long-term potentiation was impaired. Our results document progressive brain dehydration with age in inbred mice to levels at which in vitro synaptic plasticity appears dysregulated. They also suggest that dehydration contributes to some of the changes in synaptic plasticity observed with aging, possibly due to adjustments in neuronal excitation mechanisms.
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Authors
Anirudh Vashisht, Michael Morykwas, Ashok N. Hegde, Louis Argenta, Maria P. McGee,