Molecules, Vol. 26, Pages 6266: Aged Brains Express Less Melanocortin Receptors, Which Correlates with Age-Related Decline of Cognitive Functions

Molecules, Vol. 26, Pages 6266: Aged Brains Express Less Melanocortin Receptors, Which Correlates with Age-Related Decline of Cognitive Functions Molecules doi: 10.3390/molecules26206266 Authors: Yang Zhou Monica K. Chawla Jose L. Rios-Monterrosa Lingzhi Wang Marc A. Zempare Victor J. Hruby Carol A. Barnes Minying Cai Brain G-protein coupled receptors have been hypothesized to be potential targets for maintaining or restoring cognitive function in normal aged individuals or in patients with neurodegenerative disease. A number of recent reports suggest that activation of melanocortin receptors (MCRs) in the brain can significantly improve cognitive functions of normal rodents and of different rodent models of the Alzheimer’s disease. However, the potential impact of normative aging on the expression of MCRs and their potential roles for modulating cognitive function remains to be elucidated. In the present study, we first investigated the expression of these receptors in six different brain regions of young (6 months) and aged (23 months) rats following assessment of their cognitive status. Correlation analysis was further performed to reveal potential contributions of MCR subtypes to spatial learning and memory. Our results revealed statistically significant correlations between the expression of several MCR subtypes in the frontal cortex/hypothalamus and the hippocampus regions and the rats’ performance in spatial learning and memory only in the age...
Source: Molecules - Category: Chemistry Authors: Tags: Article Source Type: research