Event Abstract Back to Event Enhanced role of adenosine A2A receptors on LTP in the rat hippocampus upon aging A. R. Costenla1*, M. J. Diogenes1, J. A. Ribeiro1, Rodrigo A. Cunha1 and A. De-Mendonca1 1 Instituto de Medicina Molecular, University of Lisbon, Institute of Pharmacology and Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine and Unit of Neurosciences, Portugal We have recently provided evidence for a particular role of A2A receptor antagonists in the prevention of memory dysfunction after different brain insults known to cause an up-regulation of cortical A2A receptors. Moreover, during aging the density of hippocampal A2A receptors is enhanced and caffeine or A2A receptor antagonists prevent the age-induced memory dysfunction. We also reported that A2A receptors modulate hippocampal synaptic plasticity phenomena such as long-term potentiation (LTP), a neurophysiological correlate of learning and memory. However, it is not known if the impact of A2A receptors in the control of hippocampal LTP also augments on aging.This was investigated using male Wistar rat hippocampal slices from 3 age groups (young adults: 10-15; middle-age older adults: 36-38; aged: 70-80 weeks old). Two separate sets of the Schaffer afferent pathway were alternately stimulated and the field-excitatory post-synaptic potentials (fEPSP) were extracellularly recorded in the stratum radiatum of the CA1 area. LTP was induced by a high frequency stimulation train (HFS, 100 Hz, 1 s).An attenuation on the magnitude of the LTP was observed in the presence of the selective A2A receptor antagonist, SCH 58261 (50 nM), in the all age groups, with a larger effect in aged (LTP reduction from 81±7% in the absence to 28±4% in the presence of SCH 58261 (n=5, P<0.05), than in middle-age adults (LTP reduction from 73±5% to 45±6%, n=6, P<0.05). In contrast, the selective A1 receptor antagonist DPCPX (50 nM) increased LTP magnitude in young adult rats (50±10%, n=5 P<0.05) and failed to affect LTP magnitude in the other age groups. This shows that the impact of A2A receptors on LTP is larger in aged rats in accordance with the age- associate increased A2A receptors density and with the ability of A2A receptors to prevent memory dysfunction in aged animals.Supported by FCT and Pfizer Conference: 11th Meeting of the Portuguese Society for Neuroscience, Braga, Portugal, 4 Jun - 6 Jun, 2009. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Neuronal Communication Citation: Costenla AR, Diogenes MJ, Ribeiro JA, Cunha RA and De-Mendonca A (2009). Enhanced role of adenosine A2A receptors on LTP in the rat hippocampus upon aging. Front. Neurosci. Conference Abstract: 11th Meeting of the Portuguese Society for Neuroscience. doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.01.2009.11.141 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 11 Aug 2009; Published Online: 11 Aug 2009. * Correspondence: A. R Costenla, Instituto de Medicina Molecular, University of Lisbon, Institute of Pharmacology and Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine and Unit of Neurosciences, Lisbon, Portugal, arcostenla@gmail.com Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers A. R Costenla M. J Diogenes J. A Ribeiro Rodrigo A Cunha A. De-Mendonca Google A. R Costenla M. J Diogenes J. A Ribeiro Rodrigo A Cunha A. De-Mendonca Google Scholar A. R Costenla M. J Diogenes J. A Ribeiro Rodrigo A Cunha A. De-Mendonca PubMed A. R Costenla M. J Diogenes J. A Ribeiro Rodrigo A Cunha A. De-Mendonca Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.