McNeill T H, Koek L L, Haycock J W
Peptides. 1984;5 Suppl 1:263-8. doi: 10.1016/0196-9781(84)90285-7.
Age-correlated changes in neurotransmitter systems of the basal ganglia have been postulated to contribute to the disruption of motor function and balance associated with aging. This report compared the morphology of nigrostriatal dopamine (DA) neurons of the substantia nigra and ventral tegmental area of the C57B1/6N Nia mouse with the morphology of DA neurons of the nigrostriatal pathway in aged human brain and in one case diagnosed to have senile dementia of the Alzheimer's type (SDAT). Age-correlated changes in fibers of the nigrostriatal pathway in the aged mouse are characterized by an increase in the number of large, fluorescent axonal dilations. Similar axonal swellings were seen in aged human brain. In addition, postmortem SDAT brain was characterized by the presence of large patches or tangles of DA-containing fibers. In the C57B1/6N Nia mouse, age-correlated morphological changes were characterized by a progressive accumulation of cytoplasmic lipofuscin granules and a markedly reduced DA content per cell is determined visually by histofluorescence. Most neurons of the pars compacta of the substantia nigra in postmortem human brain were nonfluorescence and contained heavy deposits of neuromelanin in their cytoplasm. These data suggest that age-correlated morphological changes in fibers of the nigro-striatal system of the aged C57B1/6N Nia mouse are similar in appearance to fibers in the aged human brain and that morphological related changes in dopaminergic cells may play a role in the disruption of motor function associated with advancing age. In addition, the presence of large tangles or patches of DA fibers in postmortem SDAT brain suggests that subcortical DA-containing neurons may also be affected in SDAT.
据推测，基底神经节神经递质系统中与年龄相关的变化会导致与衰老相关的运动功能和平衡障碍。本报告比较了C57B1/6N Nia小鼠黑质和腹侧被盖区的黑质纹状体多巴胺（DA）神经元的形态与老年人类大脑以及一例被诊断为阿尔茨海默型老年痴呆症（SDAT）的黑质纹状体通路DA神经元的形态。老年小鼠黑质纹状体通路纤维中与年龄相关的变化的特征是大型荧光轴突扩张数量增加。在老年人类大脑中也观察到了类似的轴突肿胀。此外，死后的SDAT大脑的特征是存在大量含DA纤维的斑块或缠结。在C57B1/6N Nia小鼠中，与年龄相关的形态学变化的特征是细胞质脂褐素颗粒的逐渐积累，并且通过组织荧光目测确定每个细胞的DA含量明显降低。死后人类大脑中黑质致密部的大多数神经元无荧光，并且其细胞质中含有大量神经黑素沉积。这些数据表明，老年C57B1/6N Nia小鼠黑质纹状体系统纤维中与年龄相关的形态学变化在外观上与老年人类大脑中的纤维相似，并且多巴胺能细胞的形态学相关变化可能在与年龄增长相关的运动功能障碍中起作用。此外，死后SDAT大脑中存在大量DA纤维缠结或斑块表明，SDAT中含皮质下DA的神经元也可能受到影响。
