Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Age-impaired impulse flow from nucleus basalis to cortex

  • Letter
  • Published:

From Nature

View current issue Submit your manuscript

Abstract

Recent studies have renewed interest in the role of acetylcholine (ACh) in the cognitive changes associated with ageing and dementia1–4. Deficits in cortical choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) in Alzheimer's disease have been consistently demonstrated5–9, while other research has suggested a connection between deterioration of cortical ACh fibres and dementia4. However, despite clear biochemical and anatomical evidence f or a fall in ACh in dementia1–9, results of therapeutic trials with cholinergic agonists, precursors and cholinesterase inhibitors have been inconsistent6–9. Such findings suggest that cortical cholinergic disorders are not wholly a function of simple biochemical change; alterations of impulse flow along cholinergic fibres could well be as debilitating. An important extrinsic source of cortical ACh innervation derives from neurones diffusely located in rat basal forebrain10–16, denoted the nucleus basalis (NB)15,17. We have now investigated the impulse conduction properties of cortically projecting, putatively cholinergic NB axons in adult and aged rats and have found that conduction latencies from NB to frontal cortex are significantly longer (by 51%) in aged animals. In addition, systematic analysis varying cortical stimulation depth revealed that these longer latencies are due entirely to decreased conduction velocities in the subcortical fibre projections. Indeed, intracortical velocities were virtually identical in the two groups. Our results indicate that ageing occasions a decrease in the temporal fidelity of impulse flow in the cholinergic input to the cortex from the NB, a previously overlooked but potentially important element in cognitive deficits that occur with age.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Price, D. L. et al. Neurosci. Comments 1, 84–92 (1982).

    Google Scholar 

  2. Whitehouse, P. J. et al. Science 215, 1237–1239 (1982).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Coyle, J. T., Price, D. L. & DeLong, M. R. Science 219, 1184–1190 (1983).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Struble, R. G., Cork, L. C., Whitehouse, P. J. & Price, D. L. Science 216, 413–415 (1982).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. McGeer, E. G. & McGeer, P. L. in Advances in Behavioral Biology: Neurobiology of Aging (eds Ordy, J. M. & Brizzee, K. R.) 287–305 (Plenum, New York, 1975).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  6. Corkin, S. Trends Neurosci. 4, 287–290 (1981).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Kubanis, P. & Zornetzer, S. F. Behav. neural Biol. 31, 115–172 (1981).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Bartus, R. T., Dean, R. L., Beer, B. & Lippa, A. S. Science 217, 408–417 (1982).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Rogers, J. & Bloom, F. E. in Handbook of the Biology of Aging (eds Schneider, E. & Finch, C. E.) 645–691 (Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 1985).

    Google Scholar 

  10. Schute, C. C. D. & Lewis, P. R. Brain 90, 497–520 (1967).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Johnston, M. V., McKinney, M. & Coyle, J. T. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 76, 5392–5396 (1979).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Johnston, M. V., McKinney, M. & Coyle, J. T. Expl Brain Res. 43, 159–172 (1981).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Lehmann, J., Nagy, J. I., Atmadja, S. & Fibiger, H. C. Neuroscience 5, 1161–1174 (1980).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Wenk, H., Bigl, V. & Meyer, U. Brain Res. Rev. 2, 295–316 (1980).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Bigl, V., Woolf, N. J. & Butcher, L. L. Brain Res. Bull. 8, 727–749 (1982).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. McKinney, M., Coyle, J. T. & Hedreen, J. J. comp. Neurol. 217, 103–121 (1983).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Parent, A., Gravel, S. & Oliver, A. Adv. Neurol. 24, 1–11 (1979).

    Google Scholar 

  18. Aston-Jones, G., Shaver, R. & Dinan, T. Neurosci. Lett. 46, 19–24 (1984).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Aston-Jones, G., Shaver, R. & Dinan, T. Brain Res. 325, 271–285 (1985).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Rye, D. B., Wainer, B. J., Mesulam, M.-M., Mufson, E. J. & Saper, C. B. Neuroscience 13, 627–643 (1984).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Woolf, N. J., Eckenstein, R. & Butcher, L. L. Brain Res. Bull. 13, 751–784 (1984).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Pearson, R. C. A. et al. Brain Res. 289, 375–379 (1983).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Chase, M. H., Morales, F. R., Boxer, P. A. & Fung, S. J. Expl Neurol. (in the press).

  24. Heron, D. S., Hershkowitz, M., Shinitzky, M. & Samuel, D. in Neurotransmitters and their Receptors (eds Littauer, U., Didai, Y., Silman, L, Peichberg, V. & Vogel, Z.) 125–137 (Wiley, New York, 1980).

    Google Scholar 

  25. Waxman, S. G. & Bennette, M. V. L. Nature new Biol. 238, 217–219 (1972).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Swadlow, H. A. & Waxman, S. G. Expl Neurol. 53, 128–150 (1976).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Barr, M. L. The Human Nervous System 2nd edn, 156–158 (Harper & Row, Hagerstown, 1974).

    Google Scholar 

  28. Griffin, J. W. in The Clinicai Neurosciences (ed. Rosenberg, R. N.) 538–539 (Churchill-Livingstone, New York, 1983).

    Google Scholar 

  29. Wagman, I. H. & Lesse, H. J. Physiol., Lond. 15, 235–244 (1952).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Behse, F. & Buchthal, F. J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiat. 34, 404–414 (1971).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Dorfman, L. J. & Bosley, T. M. Neurology 29, 38–44 (1979).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. Rogers, J., Zornetzer, S. F. & Bloom, F. E. Neurobiol. Ageing 2, 15–25 (1981).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. Landfield, P. W. & Lynch, G. J. Gerontol. 32, 523–533 (1977).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. Landfield, P. W., McGaugh, J. L. & Lynch, G. Brain Res. 150, 85–101 (1978).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  35. Smith, D. O. & Rosenheimer, J. L. Expl Neurol. 83, 358–366 (1984).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  36. Krnjevic, K. & Silver, A. J. Anat. 99, 711–759 (1965).

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  37. Hedreen, J. C. et al. J. comp. Neurol. 226, 246–254 (1984).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  38. Houser, C. R., Crawford, G. D., Barber, R. P., Salvaterra, P. M. & Vaughn, J. E. Brain Res. 266, 97–119 (1983).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Author notes

  1. Timothy G. Dinan

    Present address: Department of Psychological Medicine, St Bartholomew's Hospital, West Smithfield, London, EC1A 7BE, UK

  2. Joseph Rogers: Department of Neurology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, 55 Lake Avenue, Worcester, Massachusetts 01605, USA

  3. Donald E. Moss: Department of Psychology, University of Texas, El Paso, Texas 79968, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Washington Square Center for Neural Science, New York University at New York, Rm 1009 Main Bldg, New York, 10003, USA

    Gary Aston-Jones, Joseph Rogers, Robert D. Shaver, Timothy G. Dinan & Donald E. Moss

Authors
  1. Gary Aston-Jones
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Joseph Rogers
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Robert D. Shaver
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Timothy G. Dinan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Donald E. Moss
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Aston-Jones, G., Rogers, J., Shaver, R. et al. Age-impaired impulse flow from nucleus basalis to cortex. Nature 318, 462–464 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1038/318462a0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/318462a0

  • Springer Nature Limited

This article is cited by

Search

Navigation