Caloric Restriction Increases Learning Consolidation and Facilitates Synaptic Plasticity through Mechanisms Dependent on NR2B Subunits of the NMDA Receptor
Open Access
- 19 September 2007
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Society for Neuroscience in Journal of Neuroscience
- Vol. 27 (38), 10185-10195
- https://doi.org/10.1523/jneurosci.2757-07.2007
Abstract
One of the main focal points of aging research is the search for treatments that will prevent or ameliorate the learning and memory deficiencies associated with aging. Here we have examined the effects of maintaining mature mice on a long-term intermittent fasting diet (L-IFD). We found that L-IFD enhances learning and consolidation processes. We also assessed the long-term changes in synaptic efficiency in these animals. L-IFD mice showed an increase in low-theta-band oscillations, paired-pulse facilitation, and facilitation of long-term synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus with respect to mice fedad libitum. In addition, we found an increase in the expression of the NMDA receptor subunit NR2B in some brain areas of L-IFD mice. Specific antagonism of this subunit in the hippocampus reversed the beneficial effects of L-IFD. These data provide a molecular and cellular mechanism by which L-IFD may enhance cognition, ameliorating some aging-associated cognitive deficits.This publication has 87 references indexed in Scilit:
- On the role of hippocampal protein synthesis in the consolidation and reconsolidation of object recognition memoryLearning & Memory, 2007
- The Different Effects on Recognition Memory of Perirhinal Kainate and NMDA Glutamate Receptor Antagonism: Implications for Underlying Plasticity MechanismsJournal of Neuroscience, 2006
- A temporally distinct role for group I and group II metabotropic glutamate receptors in object recognition memoryLearning & Memory, 2006
- Calorie restriction, SIRT1 and metabolism: understanding longevityNature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, 2005
- An in vitro and in vivo study of early deficits in associative learning in transgenic mice that over‐express a mutant form of human APP associated with Alzheimer's diseaseEuropean Journal of Neuroscience, 2004
- Recognition memory: What are the roles of the perirhinal cortex and hippocampus?Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 2001
- EEG alpha and theta oscillations reflect cognitive and memory performance: a review and analysisBrain Research Reviews, 1999
- Molecular machines integrate coincident synaptic signalsCell, 1993
- Dietary restriction: effects on radial maze learning and lipofuscin pigment deposition in the hippocampus and frontal cortexArchives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, 1987
- Age‐associated memory impairment: Proposed diagnostic criteria and measures of clinical change — report of a national institute of mental health work groupDevelopmental Neuropsychology, 1986