Differences in aging in two neural pathways: proposed explanations from the nervous system of Aplysia

A basic question in studies of the neurobiology of aging is to what extent age-related changes are genetically preprogrammed or epigenetically mediated. Our approach to this question is to compare the effect of age on two neural pathways in the marine mollusc, Aplysia. The advantage of Aplysia as a model of neural aging is that age-sensitive properties in the pathways can be studied at the behavioral, physiological, and morphological levels. The two pathways we are investigating respond differently to aging; a comparison of the pathways' properties provides a means of distinguishing the effect of age from other variables in the same animal. Age effects are expressed in the gill withdrawal reflex pathway at the three levels but are minimal in the gill respiratory pathway. The behavioral and physiological expressions of the reflex pathway are weakened in old animals (250 days of age and older) when compared to those in mature ones (ca. 160 days of age). The major differences between the two pathways are: (1) the reflex pathway appears to exhibit more plasticity than the respiratory pathway, and (2) the level of use of the respiratory pathway is more regular and frequent than that of the reflex pathway. The greater plasticity intrinsic to the reflex pathway and its level of use may well be the characteristics upon which age-related changes depend. An interplay between genetic and epigenetic factors is suggested to help explain the differential aging in the two pathways.