Imperial College London
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Vincenzo De Paola

Faculty of Medicine, Department of Brain Sciences

Reader in Translational Neuroscience
 
 
 
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Contact

 

+44 (0)20 7594 2501vincenzo.depaola Website CV

 
 
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Assistant

 

Miss Lydia Lawson +44 (0)20 7594 1264

 
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Location

 

Burlington DanesHammersmith Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Grillo:2013:10.1073/pnas.1218731110,
author = {Grillo, FW and Song, S and Teles-Grilo, Ruivo LM and Huang, L and Gao, G and Knott, GW and Maco, B and Ferretti, V and Thompson, D and Little, GE and De, Paola V},
doi = {10.1073/pnas.1218731110},
journal = {Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A},
pages = {E1514--E1523},
title = {Increased axonal bouton dynamics in the aging mouse cortex.},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1218731110},
volume = {110},
year = {2013}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - Aging is a major risk factor for many neurological diseases and is associated with mild cognitive decline. Previous studies suggest that aging is accompanied by reduced synapse number and synaptic plasticity in specific brain regions. However, most studies, to date, used either postmortem or ex vivo preparations and lacked key in vivo evidence. Thus, whether neuronal arbors and synaptic structures remain dynamic in the intact aged brain and whether specific synaptic deficits arise during aging remains unknown. Here we used in vivo two-photon imaging and a unique analysis method to rigorously measure and track the size and location of axonal boutons in aged mice. Unexpectedly, the aged cortex shows circuit-specific increased rates of axonal bouton formation, elimination, and destabilization. Compared with the young adult brain, large (i.e., strong) boutons show 10-fold higher rates of destabilization and 20-fold higher turnover in the aged cortex. Size fluctuations of persistent boutons, believed to encode long-term memories, also are larger in the aged brain, whereas bouton size and density are not affected. Our data uncover a striking and unexpected increase in axonal bouton dynamics in the aged cortex. The increased turnover and destabilization rates of large boutons indicate that learning and memory deficits in the aged brain arise not through an inability to form new synapses but rather through decreased synaptic tenacity. Overall our study suggests that increased synaptic structural dynamics in specific cortical circuits may be a mechanism for age-related cognitive decline.
AU  - Grillo,FW
AU  - Song,S
AU  - Teles-Grilo,Ruivo LM
AU  - Huang,L
AU  - Gao,G
AU  - Knott,GW
AU  - Maco,B
AU  - Ferretti,V
AU  - Thompson,D
AU  - Little,GE
AU  - De,Paola V
DO  - 10.1073/pnas.1218731110
EP  - 1523
PY  - 2013///
SP  - 1514
TI  - Increased axonal bouton dynamics in the aging mouse cortex.
T2  - Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1218731110
UR  - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23542382
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/19300
VL  - 110
ER  -
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