Effect of long-term treatment with L-deprenyl on the age-dependent microanatomical changes in the rat hippocampus

Chronic treatment with L-deprenyl increases both mean and maximum life span and improves cognitive functions in the aged rat. The present study was designed to evaluate whether long-term treatment with L-deprenyl at a dosage not inhibiting the monoamine oxidase-B (MAO-B) (1.25 mg/kg/day) or inhibiting the enzyme activity (5 mg/kg/day) had any effect on the age-dependent microanatomical changes in the rat hippocampus. The hippocampus was chosen in view of its key role in learning and memory functions. Treatment with L-deprenyl started at 19 months and lasted until the 24th month of age. Age-matched untreated rats were used as a control, whereas 11-month-old rats were used as an adult reference group. The number of nerve cell and glial fibrillary acidic protein-immunoreactive astrocyte profiles in the CA1 and CA3 fields of the hippocampus and in the dentate gyrus was decreased and increased, respectively in aged compared with adult rats. Treatment with 5 mg/kg/day, but not with 1.25 mg/kg/day L-deprenyl increased the number of neuronal profiles and decreased the number of astrocytes in the hippocampus of aged rats. The density of zinc stores in the associative intrahippocampal pathway of mossy fibres, which was decreased in aged animals, was increased after treatment with the two doses of L-deprenyl. Lipofuscin accumulation within the cytoplasm of pyramidal neurons of the hippocampus was reduced dose dependently by L-deprenyl treatment. These results suggest that long-term treatment with L-deprenyl is able to counter the expression of age-dependent microanatomical changes in the rat hippocampus. These effects seem only partially correlated with the MAO-B inhibitory activity of L-deprenyl.