Age-dependent changes in brain hydration and synaptic plasticity

作者：Vashisht Anirudh; Morykwas Michael; Hegde Ashok N; Argenta Louis; McGee Maria P^*

来源：Brain Research, 2018, 1680: 46-53.

DOI：10.1016/j.brainres.2017.12.006

• Hydration
• Aging
• Hippocampal excitability

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 similar to 76 mmHg at 6 weeks to similar to 105 mmHg at 40 weeks, or a progressive similar to 10 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 40 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.

• 出版日期2018-2-1