Jaatinen P, Hervonen A
Department of Public Health, University of Tampere, Finland.
Neurobiol Aging. 1994 Jul-Aug;15(4):419-28. doi: 10.1016/0197-4580(94)90073-6.
Age-differences in the sensitivity of peripheral sympathetic neurons to chronic ethanol exposure and ethanol withdrawal were studied in male Wistar rats aged 4 months, 12 months, or 24 to 25 months. The superior cervical ganglia (SCG) of the young (4 months) and the 2-year-old rats responded to a 12-day or 4-week ethanol exposure with significantly increased catecholamine turnover, while the ganglia of the middle-aged rats (12 months) showed only a minor increase in the intensity of catecholamine fluorescence and tyrosine hydroxylase immunoreactivity. Extensive neuronal vacuolation was found in the 4 months ethanol-exposed SCG, probably as a reaction of a subpopulation of neurons to increased stimulation. Ethanol-induced neuronal loss was most prominent in the SCG of the oldest age group. Contrary to the marked changes in SCG functional and morphometric parameters, the pelvic sympathetic neurons in the hypogastric ganglion showed no significant changes after ethanol exposure. The pattern of ethanol-induced morphological alterations found in the present study did not provide unambiquous support for either the "accelerated aging" or the "increased vulnerability" concept regarding ethanol-aging interactions in the nervous system.
研究了4个月、12个月或24至25个月大的雄性Wistar大鼠外周交感神经元对慢性乙醇暴露和乙醇戒断敏感性的年龄差异。年轻（4个月）和2岁大鼠的颈上神经节（SCG）对12天或4周的乙醇暴露反应为儿茶酚胺周转率显著增加，而中年大鼠（12个月）的神经节儿茶酚胺荧光强度和酪氨酸羟化酶免疫反应性仅略有增加。在4个月乙醇暴露的SCG中发现广泛的神经元空泡化，这可能是神经元亚群对增加的刺激的反应。乙醇诱导的神经元损失在最年长年龄组的SCG中最为明显。与SCG功能和形态学参数的显著变化相反，腹下神经节中的盆腔交感神经元在乙醇暴露后没有显著变化。本研究中发现的乙醇诱导的形态学改变模式，并未为神经系统中乙醇与衰老相互作用的“加速衰老”或“易感性增加”概念提供明确支持。
