Onchocerciasis is endemic in the Imo River Basin, Nigeria. This study was aimed at assessing the prevalence and intensity of microfilaria of Onchocerca volvulus in the area. A cross-sectional study was carried out in the Okigwe Local Government Area, Imo State, Nigeria. Two skin snips (one from the waist and ...

Dysregulation of the cholinergic transmitter system is a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease and contributes to an age-associated decline in memory performance. The current study examined the influence of carbachol, a cholinergic receptor agonist, on synaptic transmission over the course of aging. Extracellular excitatory postsynaptic field potentials were recorded from CA3-CA1 ...

Although an age-related decrease in NO bioavailability contributes to vascular stiffness, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain incompletely understood. We hypothesize that NO constrains the activity of the matrix crosslinking enzyme tissue transglutaminase (TG2) via S-nitrosylation in young vessels, a process that is reversed in aging. We sought to determine whether ...

Activation of astrocytes and microglia in the post-ischemic hippocampus has been investigated using ischemia models. The aim of this study was to investigate differences of delayed neuronal death and gliosis in the hippocampal CA1 region (CA1) between adult and aged gerbils. Delayed neuronal death in the CA1 was later in ...

One of the most common complaints among aging individuals is difficulty in understanding speech in a compromised listening environment, such as when background noise is present. Age-related hearing loss (presbycusis) is associated with both peripheral and central neural processing deficits, as it occurs even in those with only a mild ...

OBJECTIVE: Ovarian deficiency is known to undermine vasoprotective mechanisms and accelerate cardiovascular disease in postmenopausal women. In a rat model of menopause (aged ovariectomized [Ovx] rats), we recently revealed a vasoconstrictor pathway mediated by matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) via cleavage of big endothelin-1 (ET-1). However, the specific impact of aging and/or ...

Since adolescence is a critical period for the initiation of tobacco use, we have systematically compared behavioral and endocrine responses to nicotine in Sprague-Dawley rats of both sexes at early adolescence (postnatal day (P) 28), mid- adolescence (P38) and adulthood (P90). Locomotion and center time in a novel open field ...

Structural neuronal plasticity is present in the nucleus para-retroambiguus (NPRA) and the commissural nucleus of the solitary tract/A2 group (NTScom/A2) in female hamsters. Both brainstem nuclei play a role in estrous cycle related autonomic adaptations. We investigated how aging affects the capillary condition in these adaptive brainstem regions. Senescent female ...

Genetically epilepsy-prone rats of the severe seizure strain (GEPR-9s) exhibit audiogenic seizures (AGS) beginning with wild running and ending with tonic hind limb extension (TE). AGS kindling in GEPR-9s involves periodic repetition of >/=14 seizures over 7-21 days and results in prolonged seizures and an additional phase of generalized post-tonic ...

There is a growing need for pharmacological agents to manage cardiovascular disease in the rapidly growing elderly population. Here, we determine if acetaminophen is efficacious in decreasing age-related increases in cardiac reactive oxygen species (ROS) and apoptosis in aging Fischer 344 X Brown Norway rats. Compared to 6-month control animals, ...

The myotendon junction (MTJ) is a specialised area into the muscle fibers where the sarcoplasmic membranes connect to the collagen fibers bundles. There are few data about plasticity of the MTJ in aging processes. The aim of this study is to analyse the ultrastructure characteristics of MTJ of medial pterygoid ...

Long-term regulation of energy balance involves two major trends: first age-related obesity develops in the middle-aged, later it is followed by anorexia of aging (sarcopenia and/or cachexia). A dynamic balance between orexigenic and anorexigenic neuropeptides is essential for the regulation of energy homeostasis. Special imbalances of neuropeptide effects may be ...

Neuroinflammation is a significant and consistent feature of many neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Parkinson's disease (PD). The greatest risk factor for neurodegenerative disorders is age and a proinflammatory phenotype in the aged brain is believed to contribute to these neurodegenerative conditions. In animal models, neuroinflammatory changes, characterized ...

AIM: Stroke prevalence increases with age, while alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methylisoxazole-4-propionic acid receptor (AMPAR) and inflammation have been related to ischaemia-induced damage. This study shows how age and treatment with an anti-inflammatory agent (meloxicam) modify the levels of AMPAR subunits GluR1 and GluR2, as well as the mRNA levels of the GluR2-editing enzyme, ...

Microglia are main form of active immune defense, and they are constantly moving and analyzing the CNS for damaged neurons and infectious agents. In this study, we compared microglia in the spinal cord of the young adult (1-2 years old) and aged (10-12 years old) German Shepherd dogs via immunohistochemistry ...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: It has been considered that the functional decline of renal vasoconstriction during senescence is associated with an alteration in renal alpha1-adrenergic receptor (alpha1-AR) expression. While alterations in renal angiotensin II receptor (ATR) expression was considered to have an effect on renal structure and function, until now little ...

Decreased cognitive performance reduces independence and quality of life for aging individuals. Healthy brain aging does not involve significant neuronal loss, but little is known about the effects of aging at synaptic terminals. Age-related cognitive decline likely reflects the manifestation of dysregulated synaptic function and ineffective neurotransmission. In this study, ...

Age-related changes in NADPH-diaphorase activity were studied using a histochemical method in spinal cord ventral horn motoneurons at different segmental levels in rats aged 3-90 days from birth in normal conditions and after modeling of chemical deafferentation by i.p. administration of capsaicin. Wave-like age-related changes in enzyme activity were seen ...

Increased neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus (DG) after brain insults such as excitotoxic lesions, seizures, or stroke is a well known phenomenon in the young hippocampus. This plasticity reflects an innate compensatory response of neural stem cells (NSCs) in the young hippocampus to preserve function or minimize damage after injury. ...

Much of the cognitive decline shown by aging primates can be attributed to dysfunction of prefrontal cortex and, as shown previously, about 30% of asymmetric (excitatory) and symmetric (inhibitory) axodendritic synapses are lost from the neuropil of layer 2/3 in prefrontal area 46 with age [Peters A, Sethares C, Luebke ...

To accomplish its normal roles in body fluid regulation/macromolecular homeostasis, immune function, and lipid absorption; the lymphatic system must transport lymph from the interstitial spaces, into and through the lymphatics, through the lymphatic compartment of the nodes, back into the nodal efferent lymphatics and eventually empty into the great veins. ...

Cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) is an important secondary messenger synthesized by the guanylyl cyclases which are found in the soluble (sGC) and particular isoforms. In the central nervous system, the nitric oxide (NO)-sensitive sGC isoform is the major enzyme responsible for cGMP synthesis. Phosphodiesterases (PDEs) are enzymes for hydrolysis of ...

Phosphorylated extracellular signal-regulated kinase (pERK) mediates neuronal synaptic plasticity, long-term potentiation, and learning and memory in the hippocampus. In this study, we examined pERK1/2 immunoreactivity and its protein level in the gerbil hippocampus at various ages. In the postnatal month 1 (PM 1) group, very weak pERK1/2 immunoreactivity was detected ...

The time course of metabolic changes was investigated in the hippocampus and the parietal, rhinal and frontal cortices of rats from 4 to 30 months old. Samples were analysed by the solid-state high-resolution magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance method. Quantification was performed with the quest procedure of jMRUI software. ...

Little is known concerning the sensitivity of aged rats to xenobiotics inducing kidney damage. To increase this knowledge, the age-dependent response of the kidney to hexachloro-1 : 3-butadiene (HCBD) or potassium dichromate (chromate) was investigated. Rats were treated at different ages with a single dose of segment-specific nephrotoxicants of the ...

ABSTRACT Objective: To analyze the age-dependent changes in nerve fibers immunoreactive to calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP-ir) in the periodontal ligaments of rats. Materials and Methods: Thirty male Wistar-ST rats were divided into growing groups (5, 9, and 15 weeks of age) and aging groups (6, 12, and 24 months of ...

Limited experimental models exist to assess drug toxicity in pediatric populations. We recently reported how a multi-age rat model could be used for pre-clinical studies of comparative drug toxicity in pediatric populations. The objective of this study was to expand the utility of this animal model, which previously demonstrated an ...

Age-dependent changes in thermal sensitivity were evaluated with reflex- and operant-based assessment strategies in animals ranging in age from 8 to 32 months. The impact of inflammatory injury on thermal sensitivity was also determined in animals of different ages. The results showed that operant measures of escape behavior are needed ...

There is much interest in understanding the mechanisms responsible for interactions among stress, aging, memory and Alzheimer's disease. Glucocorticoid secretion associated with early life stress may contribute to the variability of the aging process and to the development of neuro- and psychopathologies. Maternal separation (MS), a model of early life ...

Activity and stability of life-supporting proteins are determined not only by their abundance and by post-translational modifications, but also by specific protein-protein interactions. This holds true both for signal-transduction and energy-converting cascades. For vital processes such as life-span control and senescence, to date predominantly age-dependent alterations in abundance and to ...

Age-related changes in hepatic expression and activity of cytochrome P450 (CYP) were investigated in male rats aged 3 (weanling), 12 (young), 26 (adult), and 104 (old) weeks. Levels of microsomal protein, total CYP, and cytochrome b(5) increased fully after puberty. CYP1A1 was detected only in 3-week-old rats, and CYP1A2, CYP2B1, ...

One of the serious postoperative complications associated with joint replacement is bacterial infection. In addressing this problem, we have previously described the development of a novel thermal spraying technology combining silver (Ag) showing antibacterial activity with hydroxyapatite (HA) displaying good biocompatibility and osteoconductivity, and reported the in vitro properties. This ...

Sprouting of uninjured nociceptive axons was examined in young adult, middle aged and aged rats. Axon sprouting from the spared sural nerve, both into adjacent denervated skin and into end-to-side coapted nerve graft, was significantly higher in young rats than in aged rats. Cross-transplantations of the end-to-side coapted nerve grafts ...

Aging is a multifaceted process associated with various functional and structural deficits that might be evolved in degenerative diseases. It has been shown that neurodegenerative disorders are associated with alterations in Ca(2+) homeostasis. Thus, in the present work, we have investigated Ca(2+) signaling and apoptosis in aged striatum. Our results ...

In the present study, we examined sex-specific changes in luteinizing hormone (LH) secretion and Fos expression in gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) neurons in response to naloxone in young (3 months old) and old (24 months old), gonadectomized male and female rats. We revealed by immunocytochemistry that, regardless of age and sex, ...

The differential effects of age-adjusted equipotent doses of isoflurane (Iso) and desflurane (Des) on hippocampal acetylcholine (ACh) levels were examined using cerebral microdialysis in young (12-16 weeks old) and aged (16-18 months old) Fischer 344 rats. An 80min exposure to 1 minimum alveolar concentration (MAC) of isoflurane and desflurane produced ...

In normal aging, the mammalian cortex undergoes significant remodeling. Although neuromodulation by dopamine and noradrenaline in the cortex is known to be important for proper cognitive function, little is known on how cortical noradrenergic and dopaminergic presynaptic boutons are affected in normal aging. Using rats we investigated whether these two ...

Although controversial, estrogen replacement therapy has been implicated as a possible therapeutic agent for ameliorating age-related cognitive decline in postmenopausal women. We have shown previously that different types of estrogen promote hippocampal neurogenesis in a dose-dependent manner in young adult female rats. However, previous studies have not found a beneficial ...

Although much is known about the protective effect of acute estrogen therapy in cerebral ischemia, relatively little is known about its effect on functional outcome at different ages. The impact of age is, however, important on the efficacy of steroids in the central nervous system. We investigated whether a single ...

We previously showed that the expression of transient receptor potential canonical (TRPC)6 ion channel elevated when TRPC1 was knocked down in A7r5 cultured vascular smooth muscle cells. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore whether TRPC6 is also upregulated in aging rat aorta comparable to that of TRPC1 ...

Excitatory synaptic transmission is altered during aging in hippocampal granule cells, and in CA3 and CA1 pyramidal cells. These functional changes contribute to age-associated impairments in experimentally-induced plasticity in each of these primary hippocampal subregions. In CA1, plasticity evoked by stimulation shares common mechanisms with the synaptic modification observed following ...

We previously found that prolonged consumption of green tea (GT), a rich source of antioxidant polyphenols, protected proteins and lipids against oxidation and reduced lipofuscin deposition in the rat hippocampal formation as well as improving spatial memory during aging. In this work, we sought to investigate whether GT treatment could ...

Numerous epidemiological studies have shown that cardiovascular dysfunction in adult life may be programmed by compromised growth in utero. Aging is a risk factor for vascular endothelial-dependent dysfunction. After birth, the impact of intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) on normal aging mechanisms of vascular dysfunction is not known. We hypothesized that ...

Aging adults are a growing segment of the U.S. population and are likely to exhibit increased susceptibility to many environmental toxicants. However, there is little information on the susceptibility of the aged to toxicants. The toxicity of toluene has been well characterized in young adult rodents but there is little ...

Aging is the most important single risk factor for developing Alzheimer disease. We measured amyloid-beta peptide (Abeta) levels in rat cerebral cortex and hippocampus during normal aging of Brown-Norway/Fischer rats. Amyloid-beta accumulation was associated with expression of the Abeta influx transporter, the receptor for advanced glycation end-products (RAGEs) at the ...

Energy homeostasis and fuel metabolism undergo significant modifications in the course of aging. This presents in elderly subjects either as increased body mass and glucose intolerance - which may lead to obesity and type 2 diabetes - or loss of appetite, which may also seriously compromise health. The hypothalamic expression ...

Most neurodegenerative diseases are age-related disorders; however, how aging predisposes the brain to disease has not been adequately addressed. The objective of this study is to determine whether expression of proteins in the cerebromicrovasculature related to inflammation, oxidative stress and neurotoxicity is altered with aging. Brain microvessels are isolated from ...

We evaluated the effect of exposure to constant light started at the age of 1 month and at the age of 14 months on the survival, life span, tumorigenesis and age-related dynamics of antioxidant enzymes activity in various organs in comparison to the rats maintained at the standard (12:12 light/dark) ...

The effects of low-frequency conditioning stimulation (LFS, 900 pulses at 1 Hz) of glutamatergic afferents in CA1 hippocampal area using slices from two different strains of adult (3-5 month-old) and aged (23-27 month-old) rats were reinvestigated regarding the discrepancies in the literature concerning the expression of long-term depression (LTD) in ...

It is known since a long time that the hippocampus is sensitive to aging. Thus, there is a reduction in the hippocampal volume during aging. This age-related volume reduction is paralleled by behavioral and functional deficits in hippocampus-dependent learning and memory tasks. This age-related volume reduction of the hippocampus is ...