Attenuated NMDAR signaling on fast-spiking interneurons in prefrontal cortex contributes to age-related decline of cognitive flexibility.

ABSTRACT: Ionotropic glutamate receptors of the NMDA and AMPA subtypes transduce excitatory signaling on neurons in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in support of cognitive flexibility. Cognitive flexibility is reliably observed to decline at advanced ages, coinciding with changes in PFC glutamate receptor expression and neuronal physiology. However, the relationship between age-related impairment of cognitive flexibility and changes to excitatory signaling on distinct classes of PFC neurons is not known. In this study, one cohort of young adult (4 months) and aged (20 months) male F344 rats were characterized for cognitive flexibility on an operant set-shifting task. Expression of the essential NMDAR subunit, NR1, was correlated with individual differences in set-shifting abilities such that lower NR1 i

SUBMITTER: McQuail JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8478839 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature