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Updated: Jul 15, 2026

Rapid Golgi Stain for Dendritic Spine Visualization in Hippocampus and Prefrontal Cortex
Published on: December 3, 2021
Impaired recognition memory and decreased prefrontal cortex spine density in aged female rats
Maureen Wallace1, Maya Frankfurt, Adolfo Arellanos
1Department of Psychology, Hunter College of CUNY, 695 Park Ave., New York, NY 10021, USA. mauwllc@aol.com
Abstract:
Aged F344 female rats (21 months) showed decreased performance, as compared to young rats (4 months), on an object recognition memory task. Golgi impregnation measured dendritic spine density of pyramidal neurons in the prefrontal cortex (layer II-III), a brain area important for recognition memory. Densities of spines in aged rats were 16% lower in tertiary, apical dendrites, but not significantly different in secondary basal dendrites. Concurrent measures of memory and spine density in the young and aged subjects show that age-related declines in recognition memory are associated with decreased cortical spine density.
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