Age-related memory impairment is associated with disrupted multivariate epigenetic coordination in the hippocampus.

ABSTRACT: Mounting evidence linking epigenetic regulation to memory-related synaptic plasticity raises the possibility that altered chromatin modification dynamics might contribute to age-dependent cognitive decline. Here we show that the coordinated orchestration of both baseline and experience-dependent epigenetic regulation seen in the young adult hippocampus is lost in association with cognitive aging. Using a well-characterized rat model that reliably distinguishes aged individuals with significant memory impairment from others with normal memory, no single epigenetic mark or experience-dependent modification in the hippocampus uniquely predicted differences in the cognitive outcome of aging. The results instead point to a multivariate pattern in which modification-specific, bidirectional chrom

SUBMITTER: Castellano JF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3305324 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature