TY - JOUR
T1 - The effects of aging on neuropil structure in mouse somatosensory cortex—A 3D electron microscopy analysis of layer 1
AU - Cali, Corrado
AU - Wawrzyniak, Marta
AU - Becker, Carlos
AU - Maco, Bohumil
AU - Cantoni, Marco
AU - Jorstad, Anne
AU - Nigro, Biagio
AU - Grillo, Federico
AU - De Paola, Vincenzo
AU - Fua, Pascal
AU - Knott, Graham William
N1 - KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2021-03-19
Acknowledgements: The study was supported by a Novartis Biomedical Foundation grant, and a Swiss National Science Foundation grant to Graham Knott. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
PY - 2018/7/2
Y1 - 2018/7/2
N2 - This study has used dense reconstructions from serial EM images to compare the neuropil ultrastructure and connectivity of aged and adult mice. The analysis used models of axons, dendrites, and their synaptic connections, reconstructed from volumes of neuropil imaged in layer 1 of the somatosensory cortex. This shows the changes to neuropil structure that accompany a general loss of synapses in a well-defined brain region. The loss of excitatory synapses was balanced by an increase in their size such that the total amount of synaptic surface, per unit length of axon, and per unit volume of neuropil, stayed the same. There was also a greater reduction of inhibitory synapses than excitatory, particularly those found on dendritic spines, resulting in an increase in the excitatory/inhibitory balance. The close correlations, that exist in young and adult neurons, between spine volume, bouton volume, synaptic size, and docked vesicle numbers are all preserved during aging. These comparisons display features that indicate a reduced plasticity of cortical circuits, with fewer, more transient, connections, but nevertheless an enhancement of the remaining connectivity that compensates for a generalized synapse loss.
AB - This study has used dense reconstructions from serial EM images to compare the neuropil ultrastructure and connectivity of aged and adult mice. The analysis used models of axons, dendrites, and their synaptic connections, reconstructed from volumes of neuropil imaged in layer 1 of the somatosensory cortex. This shows the changes to neuropil structure that accompany a general loss of synapses in a well-defined brain region. The loss of excitatory synapses was balanced by an increase in their size such that the total amount of synaptic surface, per unit length of axon, and per unit volume of neuropil, stayed the same. There was also a greater reduction of inhibitory synapses than excitatory, particularly those found on dendritic spines, resulting in an increase in the excitatory/inhibitory balance. The close correlations, that exist in young and adult neurons, between spine volume, bouton volume, synaptic size, and docked vesicle numbers are all preserved during aging. These comparisons display features that indicate a reduced plasticity of cortical circuits, with fewer, more transient, connections, but nevertheless an enhancement of the remaining connectivity that compensates for a generalized synapse loss.
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10754/628380
UR - http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0198131
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85049355420&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0198131
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0198131
M3 - Article
C2 - 29966021
AN - SCOPUS:85049355420
VL - 13
SP - e0198131
JO - PLOS ONE
JF - PLOS ONE
SN - 1932-6203
IS - 7
ER -