Departament de Psicobiologia i Metodologia de les Ciències de la Salut, Institut de Neurociències, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Barcelona, Spain.
Departament de Bioquímica i Biologia Molecular, Institut de Neurociències, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Barcelona, Spain.
Nutrients. 2023 Mar 24;15(7):1572. doi: 10.3390/nu15071572.
Age-related neurobiological changes significantly affect hippocampal structure and function, such that the main cognitive impairments associated with aging are related to the integrity of this brain structure, including the deterioration in spatial object recognition (SOR) memory. Previous studies have shown that intrinsic factors such as neuroinflammation, as well as lifestyle factors such as diet, can affect aging-associated brain functions and cognitive performance. In this regard, caloric restriction (CR) produces beneficial effects on health and life expectancy, although its ability to slow down age-dependent effects on cognitive decline and hippocampus (HPC) functioning remains unclear. Therefore, we set out to evaluate the effects of CR on SOR memory in aged male Wistar rats, as well as those on hippocampal neuron loss, neurogenesis and inflammation. The data show that CR in aged rats attenuates the decline in SOR memory, age-associated hippocampal neuron loss, and age-dependent microglial activation. Furthermore, we found a significant reduction in neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus of the old animals relative to adult rats. These findings support the positive effect of CR on SOR memory, suggesting that it dampens hippocampal neuronal loss and reduces proinflammatory activity.
年龄相关的神经生物学变化显著影响海马体的结构和功能，因此与衰老相关的主要认知障碍与该脑结构的完整性有关，包括空间物体识别（SOR）记忆的恶化。先前的研究表明，神经炎症等内在因素以及饮食等生活方式因素会影响与衰老相关的大脑功能和认知表现。在这方面，热量限制（CR）对健康和预期寿命有有益的影响，尽管它减缓与年龄相关的认知能力下降和海马体（HPC）功能的能力尚不清楚。因此，我们着手评估 CR 对老年雄性 Wistar 大鼠 SOR 记忆的影响，以及对海马体神经元丢失、神经发生和炎症的影响。数据显示，CR 可减轻老年大鼠 SOR 记忆、与年龄相关的海马体神经元丢失和与年龄相关的小胶质细胞激活的下降。此外，我们发现老年动物齿状回中的神经发生与成年大鼠相比显著减少。这些发现支持 CR 对 SOR 记忆的积极影响，表明它抑制海马体神经元丢失并减少促炎活性。
