Behavioral and cellular markers of olfactory aging and their response to enrichment

Aging of olfactory function (discrimination and short-term memory) was studied in 2, 10, and 23-month-old mice. We also addressed the issue of the responsiveness of the aging system to olfactory experience-dependent plasticity by submitting mice of different ages to an enrichment paradigm, and assessed neurogenesis in the olfactory bulb and the status of the noradrenergic system, 2 effectors of enrichment. Discrimination ability and its response to enrichment were essentially preserved with aging. In contrast, memory and its improvement by enrichment were altered at 10 and 23 months. Regarding neurogenesis, we found less proliferation of progenitors at 10 months and then lower neuronal differentiation and survival at 23 months. Furthermore, enrichment did not improve neurogenesis beyond the age of 2 months. Noradrenergic markers and their response to enrichment were altered at 23 months in line with memory performance. Aging thus differentially affected olfactory discrimination and memory abilities and their responsiveness to enrichment. Bulbar neurogenesis was an early target of aging whose decline could contribute to age-dependent memory impairments.