Glucocorticoids (GCs), the adrenal steroid hormones secreted during stress, can damage the hippocampus and impair its capacity to survive coincident neurological insults. This GC endangerment of the hippocampus is energetic in nature, as it can be prevented when neurons are supplemented with additional energy substrates. This energetic endangerment might arise from the ability of GCs to inhibit glucose transport into both hippocampal neurons and astrocytes. The present study explores the GC inhibition in astrocytes. (1) GCs inhibited glucose transport approximately 15-30% in both primary and secondary hippocampal astrocyte cultures. (2) The parameters of inhibition agreed with the mechanisms of GC inhibition of glucose transport in peripheral tissues: A minimum of 4 h of GC exposure were required, and the effect was steroid specific (i.e., it was not triggered by estrogen, progesterone, or testosterone) and tissue specific (i.e., it was not triggered by GCs in cerebellar or cortical cultures). (3) Similar GC treatment caused a decrease in astrocyte survival during hypoglycemia and a decrease in the affinity of glutamate uptake. This latter observation suggests that GCs might impair the ability of astrocytes to aid neurons during times of neurologic crisis (i.e., by impairing their ability to remove damaging glutamate from the synapse).

Rodents commonly exhibit age-related impairments in spatial learning tasks, deficits widely thought to reflect cellular or synaptic dysfunction in the hippocampus. Using whole-cell recordings, we examined the afterhyperpolarization (AHP) in CA1 pyramidal cells in hippocampal slices from young (4 -6 months of age) and aged (24 -26 months of age) Fisher 344 male rats that had been behaviorally characterized in the Morris water maze. The slow AHP (sAHP) recorded from learning-impaired aged rats (AI) was significantly larger than that seen in either age-matched unimpaired rats or young controls. Among aged rats, sAHP amplitude was inversely correlated with both acquisition and probe performance in the water maze. Action potential parameters among the three groups were similar, except for spike accommodation, which was more pronounced in the AI group. Intracellular application of the cAMP analog 8-CPT-cAMP suppressed the sAHP but failed to reveal any age-or performance-related differences in the medium AHP. 8-CPT-cAMP abolished the age-related difference in spike accommodation, whereas instantaneous firing frequency was unchanged. Calcium spikes were of similar amplitude in all three groups but were broader and had significantly larger tails in aged rats; these age-related changes could be mimicked in young neurons after exposure to BayK8644. The calcium spike among aged rats correlated with task acquisition in the maze but, unlike the sAHP, failed to correlate with probe performance. This is the first demonstration that sAHP amplitude covaries with spatial learning ability in aged rats, implying that CA1 excitability strongly influences certain aspects of cognitive function. Our findings also indicate that multiple processes, in addition to elevated calcium influx, conspire to induce cognitive decline during aging.

1. The effects of extracellular H+ (pH.) in the pathophysiological range (pH 6-8) on voltagegated sodium, potassium, and calcium currents were examined in acutely dissociated rat hippocampal CAl neurons using the whole-cell patch clamp technique. All experiments were conducted in Hepes-buffered solutions and were performed at room temperature (21-23°C). 2. ITX-sensitive sodium currents, evoked by both step and ramp depolarization, were reversibly depressed by moderate acidosis and enhanced slightly by alkaline exposure.Changes in current amplitude were coincident with small reversible shifts (± 3 mV) in the type, which could be carried by Ba2P and inhibited completely by cadmium. Moderate acidosis (pH 6 9-6 0) reversibly depressed HVA Ca2P current amplitude and caused a positive shift in its voltage dependence. For both of these parameters, alkaline treatment (pH 8 0) had the opposite effect. The depression of HVA Ca2P currents by low pHo was unaffected by raising the internal Hepes concentration from 10 to 50 mm in the patch pipette. A Hill plot of the effect of pH on Ca2P current amplitude revealed a pK value (defined as the mid-point of the titration curve) of 7-1 and a slope of 0f6.5. The rate of Ca2' current activation was unaffected by pHo at positive potentials, but below 0 mV the activation rate increased at low pH and decreased at high pH, becoming significant at -20 mV. At this membrane voltage, a second HVA current was revealed during acid exposure as the whole-cell HVA current was depressed. Ca2+ current decay was described by two time constants, both of which were significantly reduced at pH 6-4 and slightly enhanced at pH 8.0. Steady-state Ca2P current inactivation reached 50% near -50 mV and was not affected at either pH extreme. 6. These results demonstrate that extracellular pH shifts within the pathophysiological range are capable of modulating both the conductance and gating properties of voltage-gated ion channels in hippocampal CAl neurons. The effects we describe are consistent with the wellknown effects of pHo on neuronal excitability and strengthen the idea that endogenous pHo shifts may help regulate cell activity in situ.The tight regulation of extracellular pH (pH0) in the brain recordings with ion-selective microelectrodes have revealed is critical for normal cellular function; excessive acidosis in that transient pHo shifts occur in the vertebrate CNS the CNS can lead to coma while alkalosis can provoke during spontaneous neuronal activity, electrical seizures. However, interstitial brain pH is far from static: stimulation, and pathological states

Hippocampal-dependent learning and memory deficits have been well documented in aging rodents. The results of several recent studies have suggested that these deficits arise from weakened synaptic plasticity within the hippocampus. In the present study, we examined the relationship between hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP) in vitro and spatial learning in aged (24-26 months) Fischer 344 rats. We found that LTP induced in the CA1 region using theta-frequency stimulation (5 Hz) is selectively impaired in slices from a subpopulation of aged rats that had shown poor spatial learning in the Morris water maze. LTP at 5 Hz in aged rats that did not show learning deficits was similar to that seen in young (4-6 months) controls. We also found that 5 Hz LTP amplitude strongly correlated with individual learning performance among aged rats. The difference in 5 Hz LTP magnitude among aged rats was not attributable to an altered response to 5 Hz stimulation or to differences in the NMDA receptormediated field EPSP. In addition, no performance-related differences in LTP were seen when LTP was induced with 30 or 70 Hz stimulation protocols. Finally, both 5 Hz LTP and spatial learning in learning-impaired rats were enhanced with the selective muscarinic M 2 antagonist ]benzodiazepin-6-one). These findings reinforce the idea that distinct types of hippocampal LTP offer mechanistic insight into age-associated cognitive decline.

Cerebral ischemia is one of the most common neurological insults. Many pathological events are undoubtedly triggered by ischemia, but only recently has it become accepted that ischemic cell injury arises from a complex interaction between multiple biochemical cascades. Tissue acidosis is a well established feature of ischemic brain tissue, but its role in ischemic neuropathology is still not fully understood. Within the last few years, new evidence has challenged the historically negative view of acidosis and suggests that it may play more of a beneficial role than previously thought. This review reintroduces the concept of acidosis to ischemic brain injury and presents some new perspectives on its neuroprotective potential. Key Words: Ischemia-infarction-Lactic acidosis-Excitotoxicity-Hippocampus-Selective neuronal necrosis -Energy metabolism. Experimental work aimed at understanding ischemic brain injury has highlighted numerous biochemical events that may mediate cell damage. Among these, tissue acidosis has received considerable attention. The history of the acidotic concept in ischemia research forms somewhat of an arch. A number of decades ago, cerebral acidosis was shown first to be a correlate of gross ischemic brain damage and was viewed later as a cause. At the height of interest in this topic, acidosis was considered among the principal mechanisms by which ischemic damage occurs (Myers, 1979;Siesjo, 1988~). Even so, it was clear that "cerebral ischemia" was not a single disease but any insult that involved a partial or complete reduction in cerebral blood flow. Various animal models of both focal and global ischemia have been widely used to study ischemic injury, but the question of whether tissue acidosis satisfactorily explains or even contributes to all forms of ischemic brain injury has never been formally addressed.Though acidosis is generally believed to underlie cerebral infarction, mounting evidence has suggested that acidosis does not contribute to the selective neuronal necrosis that occurs after transient ischemia or in the penumbra of developing infarcts. Not surprisingly, the earlier bias toward acidosis as a neurotoxic mechanism has waned. In this review, we briefly examine the evolution of the acidosis concept. We then focus on a recent and surprising series of in vitro observations suggesting that moderate acidosis may actually play a neuroprotective role during ischemia. We then discuss a striking and paradoxical implication of these data regarding the time course and possible mediators of selective neuronal injury following ischemia. THE TRADITIONAL BELIEF IN THE ACIDOTIC ROUTE OF ISCHEMIC DAMAGESupported by varying degrees of experimental evidence, many distinct mechanisms have been proposed to explain ischemic brain injury; of these, the concept of acidotic damage is perhaps the oldest. Early work suggested that metabolic acidosis, caused by continued glycolysis, was responsible for the severe tissue disruption seen in the postmortem brain (Friede and van Houten, 1961). D...

Neuronal nicotinic ␣7 acetylcholine receptors (␣7nAChRs) are expressed primarily in the brain and are implicated in modulating many cognitive functions (e.g., attention, working and episodic memory). Not surprisingly, much effort has been committed to the development of molecules acting at ␣7nAChRs as potential therapies for a variety of central nervous system diseases (e.g., Alzheimer's). N-[(3S)-1-azabicyclo[2.2.2]oct-3-yl]-1H-indazole-3-carboxamide hydrochloride (RG3487) binds potently to the human ␣7nAChR (K i ϭ 6 nM), in which it acts as a partial agonist (63-69% of acetylcholine) as assessed by whole-cell patch-clamp recordings in both oocytes and QM7 cell lines. RG3487 activates human ␣7nAChRs with an EC 50 of 0.8 M (oocytes) and 7.7 M (QM7 cells). RG3487 also exhibits antagonist properties at the serotonin 3 receptor [IC 50 ϭ 2.8 nM (oocytes), 32.7 nM (N1E-115 cells)]. In vivo, RG3487 improved object recognition memory in rats after acute [minimally effective dose (MED) 1.0 mg/kg p.o.] or repeated (10 day) administration at brain and plasma concentrations in the low-nanomolar range. Spatial learning deficits in age-impaired rats were reversed after RG3487 administration (MED: 0.03 mg/kg i.p.) as evaluated in the Morris water maze task. In the prepulse inhibition (PPI) of startle model of sensorimotor gating, RG3487 improved apomorphine-induced deficits in PPI performance (MED: 0.03 mg/kg i.p.) and reversed phencyclidine-induced impairments in an attentional set-shifting model of executive function (MED: Յ0.03 mg/kg i.p.). Cumulative evidence from these studies indicates RG3487 is a novel and potent ␣7nAChR partial agonist that improves cognitive performance and sensorimotor gating.

Neuron membrane changes and ion redistribution during normoxic spreading depression (SD) induced, for example, by potassium injection, closely resemble those that occur during hypoxic SD-like depolarization (HSD) induced by oxygen withdrawal, but the degree to which the two phenomena are related is controversial. We used extracellular electrical recording and imaging of intrinsic optical signals in hippocampal tissue slices to compare 1) initiation and spread of these two phenomena and 2) the effects of putative gap junction blocking agents, heptanol and octanol. Both events arose focally, after which a clear advancing wave front of increased reflectance and DC shift spread along the CA1 stratum radiatum and s. oriens. The rate of spread was similar: conduction velocity of normoxic SD was 8.73 +/- 0.92 mm/min (mean +/- SE) measured electrically and 5.84 +/- 0.63 mm/min measured optically, whereas HSD showed values of 7.22 +/- 1.60 mm/min (electrical) and 6.79 +/- 0.42 mm/min (optical). When initiated in CA1, normoxic SD consistently failed to enter the CA3 region (7/7 slices) and could not be initiated by direct KC1 injection in the CA3 region (n = 3). Likewise, the hypoxic SD-like optical signal showed onset in the CA1 region and halted at the CA1/CA3 boundary (9/9 slices), but in some (4/9) slices the dentate gyrus region showed a separate onset of signal changes. Microinjection into CA1 stratum radiatum of octanol (1 mM), which when bath applied arrests the spread of normoxic SD, created a small focus that appeared to be protected from hypoxic depolarization. However, bath application of heptanol (3 mM) or octanol (2 mM) did not prevent the spread of HSD, although the onset was delayed. This suggests that, although gap junctions may be essential for the spread of normoxic SD, they may play a less important role in the spread of HSD.

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