Voytko M L, Sukhov R R, Walker L C, Breckler S J, Price D L, Koliatsos V E
Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md., USA.
Dementia. 1995 May-Jun;6(3):131-41. doi: 10.1159/000106936.
Neurons in the nucleus basalis of Meynert (NBM) were analyzed morphometrically in 21 rhesus monkeys ranging in age from 9 to 33 years. Numbers of cholinergic neurons were similar across all ages at several NBM levels in either Nissl-stained paraffin sections or sections processed immunocytochemically for nerve growth factor receptor (p75LNGFr). Size of NBM neurons was larger in aged monkeys than young monkeys at all NBM levels, particularly in the most posterior subdivision. A subset of monkeys were behaviorally characterized shortly before death, and partial correlation analyses indicated that increased age was associated with declines in recognition memory, visuospatial orientation, and reaction time. Controlling for age, spatial memory and concurrent discrimination abilities were associated with lower cell number in intermediate NBM. Numbers of neurons in anterior NBM did not correlate with any behavioral measure. These observations indicate that numbers of NBM cholinergic neurons are stable with age, that NBM neurons become hypertrophic in older animals, and that morphometric indices of cholinergic neurons are associated with cognitive function.
对21只年龄在9至33岁之间的恒河猴的Meynert基底核（NBM）中的神经元进行了形态计量分析。在Nissl染色的石蜡切片或经免疫细胞化学处理以检测神经生长因子受体（p75LNGFr）的切片中，所有年龄段在几个NBM水平上胆碱能神经元的数量相似。在所有NBM水平上，老年猴子的NBM神经元比幼年猴子的更大，特别是在最靠后的细分区域。一部分猴子在濒死前不久进行了行为特征描述，偏相关分析表明，年龄增长与识别记忆、视觉空间定向和反应时间的下降有关。在控制年龄的情况下，空间记忆和同时进行的辨别能力与中间NBM中较低的细胞数量有关。前NBM中的神经元数量与任何行为指标均无相关性。这些观察结果表明，NBM胆碱能神经元的数量随年龄增长而稳定，老年动物的NBM神经元会肥大，并且胆碱能神经元的形态计量指标与认知功能有关。
