Journal article
Age-related reduction in microcolumnar structure correlates with cognitive decline in ventral but not dorsal area 46 of the rhesus monkey
Neuroscience, v 158(4), pp 1509-1520
18 Feb 2009
PMID: 19105976
Abstract
The age-related decline in cognitive function that is observed in normal aging monkeys and humans occurs without significant loss of cortical neurons. This suggests that cognitive impairment results from subtle, sub-lethal changes in the cortex. Recently, changes in the structural coherence in mini- or microcolumns without loss of neurons have been linked to loss of function. Here we use a density map method to quantify microcolumnar structure in both banks of the sulcus principalis (prefrontal cortical area 46) of 16 (ventral) and 19 (dorsal) behaviorally tested female rhesus monkeys from 6 to 33 years of age. While total neuronal density does not change with age in either of these banks, there is a significant age-related reduction in the strength of microcolumns in both regions on the order of 40%. This likely reflects a subtle but definite loss of organization in the structure of the cortical microcolumn. The reduction in strength in ventral area 46 correlates with cognitive impairments in learning and memory while the reduction in dorsal area 46 does not. This result is congruent with published data attributing cognitive functions to ventral area 46 that are similar to our particular cognitive battery which does not optimally tap cognitive functions attributed to dorsal area 46. While the exact mechanisms underlying this loss of microcolumnar organization remain to be determined, it is plausible that they reflect age-related alterations in dendritic and/or axonal organization which alter connectivity and may contribute to age-related declines in cognitive performance.
Metrics
Details
- Title
- Age-related reduction in microcolumnar structure correlates with cognitive decline in ventral but not dorsal area 46 of the rhesus monkey
- Creators
- Luis Cruz - Department of Physics, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104Daniel L Roe - Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02118Brigita Urbanc - Department of Physics, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104Andrew Inglis - Center for Polymer Studies and Department of Physics, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215H. E Stanley - Center for Polymer Studies and Department of Physics, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215Douglas L Rosene - Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02118
- Publication Details
- Neuroscience, v 158(4), pp 1509-1520
- Publisher
- Elsevier
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Physics
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000263775800032
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-60149086048
- Other Identifier
- 991014877665904721
InCites Highlights
Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:
- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Neurosciences