Dynamic interplay of frontoparietal cholinergic innervation and cortical reorganization in the regulation of attentional capacities in aging.

ABSTRACT: Cortical remodeling is linked to age-related cognitive changes in humans; however, the mechanisms underlying cortical reorganization in aging remain unknown. Here we examined the consequences of mild cholinergic thinning of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and parietal cortex (PC) on attention performance-associated changes in cortical activity in young and aged rats. Prefrontal manipulation produced attentional deficits in aged but not young rats regardless of cholinergic pruning. Stereological assessment of c-fos expression revealed age-related reductions in occipital activity and a corresponding increase in PC activity, but these patterns did not correlate with performance. PC cholinergic deafferentation produced opposite changes in PFC recruitment between young and aged rats. Cholinergic pr

SUBMITTER: Yegla B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8338743 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature