Pairing Cholinergic Enhancement with Perceptual Training Promotes Recovery of Age-Related Changes in Rat Primary Auditory Cortex
We used the rat primary auditory cortex (A1) as a model to probe the effects of cholinergic enhancement on perceptual learning and auditory processing mechanisms in both young and old animals. Rats learned to perform a two-tone frequency discrimination task over the course of two weeks, combined wit...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wiley
2016-01-01
|
| Series: | Neural Plasticity |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/1801979 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1832567182537523200 |
|---|---|
| author | Patrice Voss Maryse Thomas You Chien Chou José Miguel Cisneros-Franco Lydia Ouellet Etienne de Villers-Sidani |
| author_facet | Patrice Voss Maryse Thomas You Chien Chou José Miguel Cisneros-Franco Lydia Ouellet Etienne de Villers-Sidani |
| author_sort | Patrice Voss |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | We used the rat primary auditory cortex (A1) as a model to probe the effects of cholinergic enhancement on perceptual learning and auditory processing mechanisms in both young and old animals. Rats learned to perform a two-tone frequency discrimination task over the course of two weeks, combined with either the administration of a cholinesterase inhibitor or saline. We found that while both age groups learned the task more quickly through cholinergic enhancement, the young did so by improving target detection, whereas the old did so by inhibiting erroneous responses to nontarget stimuli. We also found that cholinergic enhancement led to marked functional and structural changes within A1 in both young and old rats. Importantly, we found that several functional changes observed in the old rats, particularly those relating to the processing and inhibition of nontargets, produced cortical processing features that resembled those of young untrained rats more so than those of older adult rats. Overall, these findings demonstrate that combining auditory training with neuromodulation of the cholinergic system can restore many of the auditory cortical functional deficits observed as a result of normal aging and add to the growing body of evidence demonstrating that many age-related perceptual and neuroplastic changes are reversible. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-92f166c7f844496eaa7d0168a637f318 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2090-5904 1687-5443 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2016-01-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Neural Plasticity |
| spelling | doaj-art-92f166c7f844496eaa7d0168a637f3182025-02-03T01:02:09ZengWileyNeural Plasticity2090-59041687-54432016-01-01201610.1155/2016/18019791801979Pairing Cholinergic Enhancement with Perceptual Training Promotes Recovery of Age-Related Changes in Rat Primary Auditory CortexPatrice Voss0Maryse Thomas1You Chien Chou2José Miguel Cisneros-Franco3Lydia Ouellet4Etienne de Villers-Sidani5Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC, H3A 2B4, CanadaDepartment of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC, H3A 2B4, CanadaDepartment of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC, H3A 2B4, CanadaDepartment of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC, H3A 2B4, CanadaDepartment of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC, H3A 2B4, CanadaDepartment of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC, H3A 2B4, CanadaWe used the rat primary auditory cortex (A1) as a model to probe the effects of cholinergic enhancement on perceptual learning and auditory processing mechanisms in both young and old animals. Rats learned to perform a two-tone frequency discrimination task over the course of two weeks, combined with either the administration of a cholinesterase inhibitor or saline. We found that while both age groups learned the task more quickly through cholinergic enhancement, the young did so by improving target detection, whereas the old did so by inhibiting erroneous responses to nontarget stimuli. We also found that cholinergic enhancement led to marked functional and structural changes within A1 in both young and old rats. Importantly, we found that several functional changes observed in the old rats, particularly those relating to the processing and inhibition of nontargets, produced cortical processing features that resembled those of young untrained rats more so than those of older adult rats. Overall, these findings demonstrate that combining auditory training with neuromodulation of the cholinergic system can restore many of the auditory cortical functional deficits observed as a result of normal aging and add to the growing body of evidence demonstrating that many age-related perceptual and neuroplastic changes are reversible.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/1801979 |
| spellingShingle | Patrice Voss Maryse Thomas You Chien Chou José Miguel Cisneros-Franco Lydia Ouellet Etienne de Villers-Sidani Pairing Cholinergic Enhancement with Perceptual Training Promotes Recovery of Age-Related Changes in Rat Primary Auditory Cortex Neural Plasticity |
| title | Pairing Cholinergic Enhancement with Perceptual Training Promotes Recovery of Age-Related Changes in Rat Primary Auditory Cortex |
| title_full | Pairing Cholinergic Enhancement with Perceptual Training Promotes Recovery of Age-Related Changes in Rat Primary Auditory Cortex |
| title_fullStr | Pairing Cholinergic Enhancement with Perceptual Training Promotes Recovery of Age-Related Changes in Rat Primary Auditory Cortex |
| title_full_unstemmed | Pairing Cholinergic Enhancement with Perceptual Training Promotes Recovery of Age-Related Changes in Rat Primary Auditory Cortex |
| title_short | Pairing Cholinergic Enhancement with Perceptual Training Promotes Recovery of Age-Related Changes in Rat Primary Auditory Cortex |
| title_sort | pairing cholinergic enhancement with perceptual training promotes recovery of age related changes in rat primary auditory cortex |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/1801979 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT patricevoss pairingcholinergicenhancementwithperceptualtrainingpromotesrecoveryofagerelatedchangesinratprimaryauditorycortex AT marysethomas pairingcholinergicenhancementwithperceptualtrainingpromotesrecoveryofagerelatedchangesinratprimaryauditorycortex AT youchienchou pairingcholinergicenhancementwithperceptualtrainingpromotesrecoveryofagerelatedchangesinratprimaryauditorycortex AT josemiguelcisnerosfranco pairingcholinergicenhancementwithperceptualtrainingpromotesrecoveryofagerelatedchangesinratprimaryauditorycortex AT lydiaouellet pairingcholinergicenhancementwithperceptualtrainingpromotesrecoveryofagerelatedchangesinratprimaryauditorycortex AT etiennedevillerssidani pairingcholinergicenhancementwithperceptualtrainingpromotesrecoveryofagerelatedchangesinratprimaryauditorycortex |