Neurobiology of Aging
Volume 26, Issue 7 , Pages 1035-1050, July 2005

Regulation of cytochrome oxidase activity in the rat forebrain throughout adulthood

  • D.R. Riddle

      Affiliations

    • Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27157-1010, USA
    • Program in Neuroscience, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27157-1010, USA
    • Roena Kulynych Center for Memory and Cognition Research, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27157-1010, USA
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Tel.: +1 336 716 4677; fax: +1 336 716 4534.
    • ,
  • M.E. Forbes

      Affiliations

    • Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27157-1010, USA

Received 12 March 2004; received in revised form 2 August 2004; accepted 28 September 2004.

Abstract 

Measures of metabolic activity can provide useful indices of the effects of aging on neural function, since sustained changes in neural activity alter metabolic demand and the activity of metabolic enzymes. Previous reports of effects of aging on key enzymes for oxidative metabolism are mixed, however, with some reports that activity declines in the aging brain and others that activity remains stable or increases. We used high-resolution, quantitative histochemistry to test whether cytochrome oxidase (CO) activity changes in the forebrain during adulthood and senescence, measuring activity in each layer of the hippocampus and several cerebral cortical areas. In most forebrain regions, average cytochrome oxidase activity was slightly higher in middle-aged than in young adult rats but did not differ between middle-aged and old rats. Thus, there was no significant change in cytochrome oxidase activity with senescence. Additional analyses indicated that cytochrome oxidase activity is regulated regionally in the brain, as well as focally, and that differences in regional regulation may contribute to variation in CO activity among individuals, which was greater in young and old rats than in middle-aged animals.

Keywords: Aging, Cerebral cortex, Hippocampus, Oxidative metabolism, Cerebral blood flow

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PII: S0197-4580(04)00314-8

doi:10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2004.09.010

Neurobiology of Aging
Volume 26, Issue 7 , Pages 1035-1050, July 2005

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