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Effect of aging on dopamine metabolism in the rat cerebral cortex: a regional analysis

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Summary

Age-related changes in the levels of dopamine (DA) and its metabolites were measured in seven cerebral cortical areas and in the striatum of 3, 10 and 27 month-old Sprague-Dawley rats. An age-related increase in DA levels was observed in the somatomotor (SM) cortex. In contrast, a decrease was observed in the temporal (T) cortex. Decreases in homovanillic acid (HVA) levels were observed in prelimbic (PL), pyriform (PY) and T cortex of aged rats, whereas significant increases in the levels of 3-methoxytyramine (3-MT) were observed in PL, prefrontal (PF), cingulate (C) as well as in T cortex. In the striatum, DA and HVA were decreased but the level of 3-MT remained unchanged. Norepinephrine (NE) levels increased in rats from 3 to 27 months in all the cortical areas. The increase in the levels of the DA extraneuronal metabolite, 3-MT, confirms our previous results showing that the release of DA might be increased with age in some cortical areas. The present results show that there is no general age-related decrease in the level of monoamines and of their metabolites in the rat cerebral cortex and that the changes display a complex, area-specific pattern.

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  1. F. Godefroy

    Present address: Unité de Recherches de Physiopharmacologie du Système Nerveux, INSERM, U161, Paris, France

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unité de Recherches de Physiopharmacologie du Système Nerveux, INSERM, U161, Paris, France

    M. H. Bassant, Y. Lamour & J. Weil-Fugazza

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Godefroy, F., Bassant, M.H., Lamour, Y. et al. Effect of aging on dopamine metabolism in the rat cerebral cortex: a regional analysis. J. Neural Transmission 83, 13–24 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01244448

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01244448

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