Differential expression of synaptic and interneuron genes in the aging human prefrontal cortex.

Differential expression of synaptic and interneuron genes in the aging human prefrontal cortex. Neurobiol Aging. 2018 Jul 18;70:194-202 Authors: Mohan A, Thalamuthu A, Mather KA, Zhang Y, Catts VS, Weickert CS, Sachdev PS Abstract Altered inhibition-excitation balance is implicated in brain aging. We hypothesized that expression of 14 genes encoding proteins localized to synapses or interneurons would show age-related changes relative to 1 another in postmortem tissue from the prefrontal cortex of 37 individuals (18-78 years) and that synaptic or interneuron markers would be differentially correlated with human brain volumes across aging. The majority of genes examined were differentially expressed with age, most being downregulated. Expression of 3 interneuron-related genes was significantly negatively associated with age (calbindin, somatostatin, cholecystokinin), whereas 3 synapse-related genes showed significant age-related expression change (PSD95, GAP43, VGLUT1). On covarying for 2 glial markers (GFAP, IBA1), all 3 interneuron genes and 1 synaptic gene (Growth-associated protein 43) remained significant. Two genes were significantly associated with total brain volume (calbindin, complexin 2) and a marker of synaptic density (synaptophysin) was significantly associated with cortical gray matter volume. Age-related change in expression of genes involved in maintenance of inhibition-excitation balance and regulation of prefrontoco...
Source: Neurobiology of Aging - Category: Geriatrics Authors: Tags: Neurobiol Aging Source Type: research