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The aging hippocampus: cognitive, biochemical and structural findings
Driscoll I, Hamilton DA, Petropoulos H, Yeo RA, Brooks WM, Baumgartner RN, Sutherland RJ.. Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991), 2003-12-01
Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies
Aging is often accompanied by learning and memory problems, many of which resemble deficits associated with hippocampal damage. Studies of aging in nonhuman animals have demonstrated hippocampus-related memory decline, and point to a possible locus for impairments associated with normal and pathological aging in humans. Two well-characterized hippocampus-dependent tasks in nonhuman animal literature are the Morris water task (MWT) and the transverse patterning discrimination task (TPDT). We employed the virtual MWT and the TPDT to assess hippocampus-dependent cognition in humans. Magnetic resonance imaging and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy were employed to measure hippocampal volume and neurochemistry respectively. Age-related deficits were observed in performance on both hippocampus-dependent tasks. This pattern of impairment was accompanied by decreased hippocampal NAA/Cre ratios and volume, both of which imply neuronal loss and/or decrease in neuronal density. Collectively, our results suggest that hippocampus undergoes structural and biochemical changes with normal aging and that these changes may represent an important component of age-related deterioration in hippocampus-dependent cognition.
Key findings
- Aging is often accompanied by learning and memory problems, many of which resemble deficits associated with hippocampal damage.
- Studies of aging in nonhuman animals have demonstrated hippocampus-related memory decline, and point to a possible locus for impairments associated with normal and pathological aging in humans.
- Collectively, our results suggest that hippocampus undergoes structural and biochemical changes with normal aging and that these changes may represent an important component of age-related deterioration in hippocampus-dependent cognition.
Study details
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 41/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on journal's citation record, times cited, citations per year, impact for its field and year, cited by studies here, still being cited, senior author's track record, institution's track record and multi-centre collaboration, so those were left out: it earned 24 of the 58 points we could judge it on, which is 41 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991)) |
| Journal's citation record | — / 4 | No journal record from OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 1 / 5 | 2003 — older than 20 years, still counted |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 3 / 3 | Studied in people (pubmed indexes it as a clinical or observational study) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | — / 7 | No citation count (not found in OpenAlex) — left out of this score |
| Citations per year | — / 5 | No citation count or no year — left out of this score |
| Impact for its field and year | — / 6 | No field-weighted citation impact (OpenAlex has none yet) — left out of this score |
| Cited by studies here | — / 6 | Not yet checked against this library's citation graph — left out of this score |
| Still being cited | — / 4 | No yearly citation counts — left out of this score |
| Senior author's track record | — / 4 | Senior author's record not available — left out of this score |
| Institution's track record | — / 3 | No institution listed in OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Multi-centre collaboration | — / 3 | Institutions not listed — left out of this score |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 14615299) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Points | 24 / 58 | Scored on 11 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 24 of the 58 points we could judge it on is 41 out of 100. |
| Total | 41 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
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Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. The record names 7 authors; APA and Vancouver show the first six, BibTeX and the downloads carry all of them. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
APA 7th
Driscoll, I., Hamilton, D. A., Petropoulos, H., Yeo, R. A., Brooks, W. M., Baumgartner, R. N., et al. (2003). The aging hippocampus: cognitive, biochemical and structural findings. Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991). https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhg081
Vancouver
Driscoll I, Hamilton DA, Petropoulos H, Yeo RA, Brooks WM, Baumgartner RN, et al. The aging hippocampus: cognitive, biochemical and structural findings. Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991). 2003. doi:10.1093/cercor/bhg081. PMID: 14615299.
BibTeX
@article{driscoll2003-14615299,
author = {Driscoll, I. and Hamilton, D. A. and Petropoulos, H. and Yeo, R. A. and Brooks, W. M. and Baumgartner, R. N. and Sutherland, R. J.},
title = {{The aging hippocampus: cognitive, biochemical and structural findings}},
journal = {Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991)},
year = {2003},
doi = {10.1093/cercor/bhg081},
pmid = {14615299},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhg081}
}
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