Hippocampal extracellular matrix levels and stochasticity in synaptic protein expression increase with age and are associated with age-dependent cognitive decline.

ABSTRACT: Age-related cognitive decline is a serious health concern in our aging society. Decreased cognitive function observed during healthy brain aging is most likely caused by changes in brain connectivity and synaptic dysfunction in particular brain regions. Here we show that aged C57BL/6J wild-type mice have hippocampus-dependent spatial memory impairments. To identify the molecular mechanisms that are relevant to these memory deficits, we investigated the temporal profile of mouse hippocampal synaptic proteome changes at 20, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, and 100 weeks of age. Extracellular matrix proteins were the only group of proteins that showed robust and progressive up-regulation over time. This was confirmed by immunoblotting and histochemical analysis, which indicated that the increased leve

SUBMITTER: Vegh MJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4223485 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature