Loss of paired-pulse facilitation at the corticostriatal synapse of the aged rat

✍ Scribed by John P. Walsh; Xiaorong Ou

• Book ID: 104600545
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1994
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 642 KB
• Volume: 17
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0887-4476
• DOI: 10.1002/syn.890170105

✦ Synopsis

Changes in calcium (Ca") homeostasis have been proposed to contribute to the aging process. Paired-pulse facilitation, a form of synaptic enhancement that relies upon an accumulation of Ca2+ in the presynaptic terminal, was used to examine the effect of aging at the corticostriatal synapse. Intracellular recordings in striatal neurons from young rats demonstrated a consistent enhancement in the second of two synaptic responses evoked by stimulation of the corpus callosum. In contrast, neurons from aged rats showed a consistent depression of the second synaptic response at identical pairing intervals. These differences were not explained by an age-dependent increase in synaptic depression and demonstrate an alteration in the Ca2+-mediated process of presynaptic facilitation.