MOTORIC DECLINES IN AGING: BEHAVIOR AND QUANTITATIVE MORPHOLOGY

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Behavioral slowing is one of the cardinal features of human aging, contributing to the debilitating deterioration of motor functions in senescence. Our principal hypothesis is that functional changes in central dopaminergic pathways contribute significantly to age-associated declines in motor functions. Our experimental plan for the next five years is designed to further our understanding of CNS processes underlying behavioral slowing and analyze therapeutic approaches for intervention. Specifically, our studies focus on the dopamine (DA) neurons in the substantia nigra (SN) and their projections to the caudate nucleus, putamen and globus pallidus of the basal ganglia. The proposed studies will analyze key junctions in the neural circuitry regulating motor functions in the basal ganglia, using behaviorally characterized female rhesus monkeys ranging in age from young adulthood to old age (5-25years+) as a model of human aging. The studies and methodology in this Project are designed to quantify age-associated declines in motoric and cognitive functions in rhesus monkeys from 5 -25+ years old. The ability of specific DA receptor agonists and GDNF to improve motor and cognitive performance levels of aged animals will be tested. The behavioral results are crucial for analyzing the functional neurochemical studies in Project by Gerhardt and the fMRI and anatomical MRI studies in Project by Zhang. In addition, this Project will analyze mRNA expression levels of four important markers of DA neurons, TH, DAT, GFRalpha-1 and Ret. GFRalpha-1 and Ret form a receptor complex for GRNF that is found at high levels in the SN. Expression levels of GDNF mRNA in DA neuron target sites, the caudate nucleus and putamen, will also be evaluated. These data will be collated with parallel Western blot analyses of protein levels of the same markers in the Project by Gerhardt to better understand molecular changes underlying functional changes in central DA neurons.