多巴胺信号系统在衰老引起的行为和认知能力退化中的作用

衰老是生物体随时间推移各项生理功能逐渐发生改变的自然现象。动物的衰老伴随着行为和认知能力的降低,因此研究动物行为和认知功能退化的分子神经机制对于提高老年群体的生活质量具有重要意义。近年来,随着正电子发射断层扫描技术和功能性核磁共振脑成像技术在神经生物学上的广泛运用,越来越多证据表明多巴胺系统功能在衰老过程中显著降低,并且这是人类和动物行为和认知功能退化的重要原因。本文将概述自然衰老过程中多巴胺信号系统功能变化及机制和其在动物行为和认知退化中的作用等方面研究进展。

Roles of dopaminergic signaling in behavioral and cognitive decline in aging animals

Aging is a natural phenomenon that physiological changes accumulate in an organism over time. Aging is also accompanied with behavioral and cognitive decline. Understanding molecular basis for age-related decline in behavioral and cognitive function will undoubtedly help to ameliorate life quality of aging populations. Dopamine is a kind of neurotransmitter that regulate many biological processes, including motor, reward, learning, memory, and decision-making by activating its receptors. Accumulating evidences demonstrates that dopamine system plays key roles in the deterioration of behaviors and alteration of cognitive functions in normal aging animals. In this review, we will describe progresses in the age-dependent changes of dopamine, its receptors and transporters, roles of dopamine system decline in behavioral deterioration and cognitive function alteration, as well as mechanisms responsible for changes in dopaminergic signaling.