Credit: Jinrui Lyu, Comparative Biosciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Graphical Abstract: Chemogenetic model of hippocampal aging. Left panel (blue): An engineered inhibitory receptor (hM4Di) that is activated by the antipsychotic agent clozapine is expressed in somatostatin-positive neurons in the dentate gyrus hilus of the hippocampus, which are shown stained by the mCherry fluorescent dye in red. Chronic administration of clozapine results in an increase in the time and path length required (after training) to find a hidden platform in the Morris water maze (A, A’), a decrease in the number of neurons expressing somatostatin in the dentate gyrus hilus (arrow, B, B’), a reduction in the density of dendritic spines (C, C’), and in an increase in the size of the cell body of microglia (D, D’).
PNAS Nexus, 2023;, pgad134, https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgad134