[Abstract Title]. - Society for Neuroscience

Poster
290. Animal Cognition and Behavior: Learning and Memory: Pharmacology I
Time: Sunday, November 16, 2008, 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Program#/Poster#: 290.18/RR69
Topic: F.02.j. Learning and memory: Pharmacology
Support: NIA Grant AG009525
NIA Grant AG025052
Title: Memory proficiency in old age is uniquely related to neurotrophin levels and immune
factors in the hippocampus of male and female rats as a function of prenatal choline availability
Authors: M. J. GLENN 1 , S. D. BILBO 2 , T. J. MELLOTT 3 , J. K. BLUSZTAJN 3 , *C. L.
WILLIAMS 2 ;
1 Psychology, Colby Col., Waterville, ME; 2 Dept of Psych & Neurosci, Duke Univ., Durham,
NC; 3 Pathology and Lab. Med., Boston Univ. Sch. of Med., Boston, MA
Abstract: Adult rats that are supplemented with the nutrient choline during prenatal
development show a remarkable resistance to age-related memory decline. We have
hypothesized that this enhanced cognition in old age, as demonstrated using hippocampallydependent
spatial memory tasks, may occur, at least in part, from a lifelong increase in or
preservation of hippocampal plasticity. In support of our hypothesis we recently reported (Glenn
et al., 2007, Eur. J. Neurosci. 25, 2473) that adult rats treated with prenatal choline
supplementation, compared to prenatally choline sufficient- and deficient-diet fed rats, showed a
marked increase in numbers of new neurons born in the hippocampus, which was accompanied
by elevated basal levels of BDNF. In the present study, we examined the relationship between
hippocampal growth factors and memory proficiency in aged male and female rats that were
treated on embryonic days 12-17 with choline supplementation (SUP; 5 mg/kg choline chloride
in AIN76A diet), sufficiency (SFF; 1.1 mg/kg), or deficiency (DEF; 0 mg/kg). At 24 months of
age, working memory in a water maze was assessed with 1-, 15-, and 120-min retention delays.
Hippocampus was rapidly dissected from one hemisphere to assay growth factor proteins and
inflammatory markers. Consistent with our past work, both male and female SUP, compared to
SFF or DEF rats, showed enhanced spatial working memory. Of the growth factors examined,
NGF and NT-3 showed significant negative correlations with long-term working memory errors
in SUP female rats only. This pattern was not present in CON or DEF females or in any of the
male groups. However, both male and female SUP rats had significant reductions in
inflammatory markers (MHC-II, IL-1β) compared to CON and DEF, suggestive of a protective
glial environment that could buffer them from some features of the aging process to preserve
cognition. Taken together, these findings indicate that prenatal choline supplementation leads to
lifelong alterations in several processes that make important contributions to plasticity in the
hippocampus. We also have increasing evidence that there are sex differences in these effects