小脑皮质结构年龄相关变化的研究进展

Advances on age-related changes in the structure of cerebellar cortex

衰老过程中小脑皮质出现明显的形态学变化,包括体积萎缩、重量减轻、皮层厚度下降、神经元数量减少,树突丢失、细胞超微结构改变、神经递质紊乱以及胶质细胞增生等。神经元数量丢失与结构退变以及神经递质改变可能会导致老年小脑皮质神经环路破坏和信息传输紊乱,与老年个体运动调节功能及运动学习能力下降有关;神经胶质活动增强对维持老年小脑皮质的形态和功能可能起保护作用。

Aging process results in significantly morphological alterations in cerebellar cortex such as shrinkage of the volume, decrease of the weight, decline in cortical thickness,loss of the neurons, atrophy in the neuronal dendrites, degenerations in the cellular ultrastructure, disorder in the neurotransmitter system, and hyperplasia of the neuroglia. Among those, loss of neurons, degeneration of the cellular conformation and imbalance in the neurotransmitter has long been considered as principal causes for age-related disorder of cerebellar circuitry,which might correlate with the impairments of motor control and motor learning in the aging individuals. Age-related enhancements of glial activity might provide protect actions to the aging neurons.