Activity-Induced Changes in GABAA Receptor Subunit Expression in the Senescent Rat Brain

Ageing and senescence are commonly associated with a characteristic decline in cognitive and sensorimotor performance that can be decelerated by physical and mental activity. Experimental investigations in aged rats demonstrated that this sensorimotor decline coincides with a reduction in receptive field size and sensory stimulation thresholds which could be both reversed by activating housing conditions in an enriched environment. We here analyzed the effects of environmental enrichment on regional expression of GABAA receptor subunits in the very old brain. At the age of 33 months standard housed rats were tra…