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Preparation of Acute Hippocampal Slices from Rats and Transgenic Mice for the Study of Synaptic Alterations during Aging and Amyloid Pathology
Published on: March 23, 2011
A pathophysiological framework of hippocampal dysfunction in ageing and disease
Scott A Small1, Scott A Schobel, Richard B Buxton
1Department of Neurology, and The Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain, Columbia University, 630 West 168th St, P&S 16. New York, New York 10032, USA.
Nature Reviews. Neuroscience
|September 8, 2011
Summary
The hippocampal formation is linked to various brain disorders. Neuroimaging reveals distinct subregion targeting and metabolic changes (hypo- or hypermetabolism) across these conditions, suggesting a unified model of dysfunction.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Neurology
- Pathophysiology
Background:
- The hippocampal formation is implicated in diverse disorders like Alzheimer's disease, cognitive aging, schizophrenia, and depression.
- Understanding how this complex temporal lobe circuit contributes to phenotypically distinct disorders is a significant challenge.
Purpose of the Study:
- To propose a unified pathophysiological framework for hippocampal dysfunction across various neurological and psychiatric disorders.
- To integrate recent neuroimaging findings with the known functional and molecular organization of the hippocampal circuit.
Main Methods:
- Review and synthesis of recent neuroimaging findings related to hippocampal involvement in different disorders.
- Interpretation of findings within the context of the hippocampal formation's functional and molecular organization.
Main Results:
- Neuroimaging studies show that different disorders selectively target distinct subregions of the hippocampal circuit.
- Some disorders are associated with hippocampal hypometabolism, while others exhibit hypermetabolism.
Conclusions:
- The differential targeting of hippocampal subregions and observed metabolic changes provide a basis for a unified pathophysiological model.
- This framework helps explain the hippocampal formation's involvement in a wide spectrum of brain disorders.
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