Age and experience-dependent representational reorganization during spatial learning NEUROBIOL AGING 18(6) 651-659, 1997.-Previously, we found that aged rats showed a significant enhancement of hippocampal CA1 place cell spatial specificity, as well as a reduction of hilar place cell spatial specificity, during asymptote performance of a spatial memory task. Because such an age effect was not observed when animals performed a nonspatial task, the present study tested the hypothesis that the different patterns of spatial selectivity observed in memory and nonmemory tests reflected a redistribution of spatial representations that occurred in response to changing task demands. In the present experiment, after animals became familiar with the test environment and motor demands of performance on a radial maze, CA1 and hilar place cells were recorded as they learned a spatial memory task. CA1 place cells recorded from unimpaired old, but not impaired old or young, animals became more spatially selective as animals learned the task. Hilar spatial selectivity for both age groups was not significantly related to choice accuracy. These data support the hypothesis that at least a subpopulation of aged rats may benefit from reorganization of spatial representations in such a way that the normal age-related spatial learning deficit is attenuated. © 1997 Elsevier Science Inc.
Place cellsHippocampus Spatial learning Representational neuroplasticity Aging THE relatively poor performance of aged rats on spatial memory tasks has been shown not to be due to general sensory or motor decline (e.g., 3,6,12,29,33). Rather, arguments have been made for a select difficulty in acquiring new information, especially spatial information. Recent studies have shown that aged rats and monkeys do not show significant loss of cells in any of the hippocampal subregions examined (i.e., the granule cell layer, hilus, CA3, CA1, or subiculum; refs. 28,30,31). Therefore, it is likely that a hippocampal contribution to the spatial learning decline with senescence reflects more subtle changes in hippocampal cell function. Indeed, there is evidence that the synaptic structure of hippocampal neurons undergoes age-associated changes that are correlated with the memory impairment (e.g., ref. 9). The functional significance of such synaptic changes is presently unknown. However, it is not unreasonable to postulate that such intracellular alterations might change the manner in which information is coded by aged hippocampal neurons. A large proportion of hippocampal neurons (place cells) are known to selectively discharge as animals traverse circumscribed portions of environmental space, referred to as place fields (24,25). Hill and Best (11) showed that place fields emerge relatively quickly when placed in a new environment. This initial result was recently extended by Wilson and McNaughton (32) and Austin and colleagues (1), who showed that place coding by particular hippocampal neurons can undergo initially rapid, then more subtle long-term changes with co...