AUTHOR=Hernandez Abbi R. , Truckenbrod Leah M. , Barrett Maya E. , Lubke Katelyn N. , Clark Benjamin J. , Burke Sara N. TITLE=Age-Related Alterations in Prelimbic Cortical Neuron Arc Expression Vary by Behavioral State and Cortical Layer JOURNAL=Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience VOLUME=12 YEAR=2020 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/aging-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnagi.2020.588297 DOI=10.3389/fnagi.2020.588297 ISSN=1663-4365 ABSTRACT=
Prefrontal cortical and medial temporal lobe connectivity is critical for higher cognitive functions that decline in older adults. Likewise, these cortical areas are among the first to show anatomical, functional, and biochemical alterations in advanced age. The prelimbic subregion of the prefrontal cortex and the perirhinal cortex of the medial temporal lobe are densely reciprocally connected and well-characterized as undergoing age-related neurobiological changes that correlate with behavioral impairment. Despite this fact, it remains to be determined how changes within these brain regions manifest as alterations in their functional connectivity. In our previous work, we observed an increased probability of age-related dysfunction for perirhinal cortical neurons that projected to the prefrontal cortex in old rats compared to neurons that were not identified as projection neurons. The current study was designed to investigate the extent to which aged prelimbic cortical neurons also had altered patterns of