Pirger, Zsolt, Naskar, Souvik, László, Zita, Kemenes, György, Reglődi, Dóra and Kemenes, Ildikó (2014) Reversal of age-related learning deficiency by the vertebrate PACAP and IGF-1 in a novel invertebrate model of aging: the pond snail (Lymnaea Stagnalis). Journals of Gerontology: series A, 69 (11). pp. 1331-1338. ISSN 1079-5006

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Abstract

With the increase of life span, nonpathological age-related memory decline is affecting an increasing number of people. However, there is evidence that age-associated memory impairment only suspends, rather than irreversibly extinguishes, the intrinsic capacity of the aging nervous system for plasticity (1). Here, using a molluscan model system, we show that the age-related decline in memory performance can be reversed by administration of the pituitary adenylate cyclase activating polypeptide (PACAP). Our earlier findings showed that a homolog of the vertebrate PACAP38 and its receptors exist in the pond snail (Lymnaea stagnalis) brain (2), and it is both necessary and instructive for memory formation after reward conditioning in young animals (3). Here we show that exogenous PACAP38 boosts memory formation in aged Lymnaea, where endogenous PACAP38 levels are low in the brain. Treatment with insulin-like growth factor-1, which in vertebrates was shown to transactivate PACAP type I (PAC1) receptors (4) also boosts memory formation in aged pond snails. Due to the evolutionarily conserved nature of these polypeptides and their established role in memory and synaptic plasticity, there is a very high probability that they could also act as “memory rejuvenating” agents in humans.

Item Type:	Article
Schools and Departments:	School of Life Sciences > Neuroscience
Subjects:	R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC0321 Neurosciences. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry
Depositing User:	Jill Kirby
Date Deposited:	28 Jul 2014 13:31
Last Modified:	02 Aug 2019 13:45
URI:	http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/49410

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