The Aging Cortical Synapse: Hallmarks and Implications for Cognitive Decline

By John H. Morrison, Mark G. Baxter. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 2012

908 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Normal ageing is associated with impairments in cognitive function, including memory. These impairments are linked, not to a loss of neurons in the forebrain, but to specific and relatively subtle synaptic alterations in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. Here, we review studies that have shed light on the cellular and synaptic changes observed in these brain structures during ageing that can be directly related to cognitive decline in young and aged animals. We also discuss the influence of the hormonal status on these age-related alterations and recent progress in the development of therapeutic strategies to limit the impact of ageing on memory and cognition in humans.

Subfields: Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience, Cognitive Neuroscience, Neurology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/377a868ff0156a28bdeeff0229be714535073783

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience

1. G. Sanacora
2. R. Duman
3. John H. Krystal
4. Michael Ramscar
5. Daniel Murman
6. E. Nestler
7. Bruce S. McEwen
8. L. Monteggia

In Cognitive Neuroscience

1. Petar Milin
2. Michael Ramscar
3. Cyrus Shaoul
4. H. Baayen
5. Daniel Murman
6. Peter Hendrix
7. G. Sanacora
8. R. Duman

In Neurology

1. Daniel Murman
2. R. Duman

Citations in the corpus

• The Impact of Age on Cognition (2015, background): “Morrison and Baxter reviewed the aging changes that occur in the cortical synapse in the dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex, an area important in working memory and executive function, and the hippocampus, an area vital for learning and memory.(22) They summarized the morphological and functional chan”
• Brain On Stress: Vulnerability and Plasticity of the Prefrontal Cortex Over the Life Course (2013, neutral): “, 2007), and it is also vulnerable to stress (McEwen and Gianaros, 2011) and normal aging (Morrison and Baxter, 2012), as well as Alzheimer’s disease (Hof and Morrison, 2004; Morrison and Hof, 1997) in humans.”
• The Myth of Cognitive Decline: Non-Linear Dynamics of Lifelong Learning (2014, background): “Although many claims to the contrary have been made (see Morrison & Baxter, 2012, for a review), it is important to note that absent a model of what is being processed , and how, neurobiological studies can reveal only that the structure and/or biology of neural processing changes; interpreting…”
• Altered connectivity in depression: GABA and glutamate neurotransmitter deficits and reversal by novel treatments (2019, background): “These studies show that exposure to chronic stress decreases dendrite length and branching of hippocampus CA3 pyramidal neurons and mPFC layers II/II and V pyramidal neurons (Duman et al., 2016; McEwen et al., 2015; McEwen and Morrison, 2013; Morrison and Baxter, 2012).”