Improving cognitive health for older adults requires understanding the neurobiology of age-related cognitive decline and the mechanisms underlying preserved cognition in old age. During spatial learning tasks, aged humans and rodents shift navigation preferences in favor of a stimulus-response learning strategy. This has been hypothesized to result from competitive interactions of the caudate nucleus/dorsal striatum (DS) memory system with the hippocampus (HPC)-dependent spatial/allocentric memory system. In support of this hypothesis, a recent study reported that inactivation of the DS in aged rodents rescued HPC-dependent spatial learning on a T-maze (Gardner, Gold, & Korol, 2020). Currently, it is unclear whether a shift from HPC-dependent to DS-dependent behavior also contributes to age-related cognitive decline outside of spatial learning and memory. To test the hypothesis that inactivation of the DS can restore age-related cognitive function outside of spatial behavior, the present study bilaterally inactivated the DS of young (n = 8) and aged (n = 7) rats during visuospatial paired associates learning (PAL). This study found that inactivation of the DS did not alter PAL performance in young or aged rats, but did alter a positive control, DS-dependent spatial navigation task. This observation suggests that elevated DS activity does not play a role in the decline of HPC-dependent PAL performance in aged male rats. Given the persistent tendencies of aged rodents toward DS-dependent learning, it will be worthwhile to explore further the coordination dynamics between the HPC and DS that may contribute to age-related cognitive decline. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

---

年轻和老年雄性大鼠背侧纹状体的蝇蕈醇失活不会影响配对伙伴的学习表现。

改善老年人的认知健康需要了解与年龄相关的认知衰退的神经生物学以及老年认知保留的机制。在空间学习任务中，老年人和啮齿动物会改变导航偏好，转而采用刺激响应学习策略。据推测，这是尾状核/背侧纹状体（DS）记忆系统与海马（HPC）依赖的空间/异中心记忆系统竞争性相互作用的结果。为了支持这一假设，最近的一项研究报告称，老年啮齿动物的 DS 失活可以挽救 T 迷宫上依赖于 HPC 的空间学习（Gardner、Gold 和 Korol，2020）。现在，目前尚不清楚从 HPC 依赖行为向 DS 依赖行为的转变是否也会导致空间学习和记忆之外的与年龄相关的认知能力下降。为了检验 DS 失活可以恢复空间行为之外的与年龄相关的认知功能这一假设，本研究对年轻人的 DS 进行双侧失活。n = 8) 和老年 ( n = 7) 大鼠在视觉空间配对学习 (PAL) 过程中。这项研究发现，DS 失活不会改变年轻或老年大鼠的 PAL 性能，但确实改变了阳性对照、DS 依赖性空间导航任务。这一观察结果表明，DS 活性升高不会导致老年雄性大鼠 HPC 依赖性 PAL 性能下降。鉴于老年啮齿类动物持续存在依赖 DS 的学习倾向，因此值得进一步探索 HPC 和 DS 之间的协调动态，这可能导致与年龄相关的认知能力下降。（PsycInfo 数据库记录 (c) 2023 APA，保留所有权利）。