Stereological age‐related changes in neurons of the rat dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus

Abstract

Quantitative methods were used to compare the changes taking place in the volume of the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN) and corresponding neurons of young, adult and old rats. The study was carried out on male albino rats aged 3, 18, 24 and 28 months. In order to estimate the volume of the dLGN, neuronal volume density, numerical density and total number of neurons, we used serial sections stained according to the Klüver-Barrera technique and stereological methods. We found that dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus volume increases between 3 and 28 months, with a larger increase between 24 and 28 months. Neuronal volume density and numerical density of neurons are greater at 3 months and undergo a significant decrease between 24 and 28 months. Finally, the total number of neurons is shown to be smaller in adult and old animals than in younger ones, even though no significant variations are found between 18 and 28 months. Furthermore, this study confirms the need to analyze the total number of neurons and not just neuronal density if we want to correctly evaluate some of the microscopic changes occurring during senescence.

Automatic segmentation of the lateral geniculate nucleus: Application to control and glaucoma patients

“…Moreover, plenty of animal experiments have also proved the LGN function will degenerate during the normal aging process [49][50][51]. The LGN shrinkage long with normal aging is consistent with these animal studies [49][50][51].…”

Element Distribution in Visual System, the Optic Chiasma, Lateral Geniculate Body, and Superior Colliculus

“…There are many reports [11][12][13][14][15][16] on age-related changes of the lateral geniculate body that is the primary processing center for visual information received from the retina of the eye. The studies [11,12,14,15] of rat dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN) demonstrated that the decrease in neuron density, increase of lipofuscin, and mild disorganization of rough endoplasmic reticulum occurred in the dLGN during aging process.…”

“…The studies [11,12,14,15] of rat dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN) demonstrated that the decrease in neuron density, increase of lipofuscin, and mild disorganization of rough endoplasmic reticulum occurred in the dLGN during aging process. It is known that lipofuscin is ubiquitous pigment within the brain and lipofuscin deposits increase in the brain with aging [27,28].…”

“…There are some reports on age-related changes of the optic nerve [7][8][9][10], lateral geniculate body [11][12][13][14][15][16], and superior colliculus [17,18], which belong to the visual system. Microscopy and MR imaging revealed that the compositional changes occurred in all of the optic chiasma, lateral geniculate body, and superior colliculus with aging [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18].…”

“…Microscopy and MR imaging revealed that the compositional changes occurred in all of the optic chiasma, lateral geniculate body, and superior colliculus with aging [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. However, little work had been done to study compositional changes of the visual system with aging by direct chemical analysis.…”