Quantitative synaptic alterations in the human neocortex during normal aging

Abstract

We quantified the synaptic population density in the frontal cortex of 25 individuals without dementia 16 to 98 years old, using sections double-immunolabeled for beta/A4 amyloid and for synaptophysin, and found a significant inverse correlation between the presynaptic terminal (PT) counts and age (r = -0.7, p < 0.001). Individuals older than 60 years had an average 20% decrease in PT density compared with individuals younger than 60 years. There were no significant correlations between the age and the number of beta/A4 amyloid-positive plaques or between synaptic density and the number of amyloid plaques. Further analysis of the digitized serial optical images showed focal areas of synapse loss and distended synaptophysin-containing boutons in the mature plaques of the normal aged cases. However, we found no microscopic changes in the synaptic content inside and outside the diffuse plaques. We suggest that a loss of synaptic input in the neocortex is an age-dependent factor that contributes to the overall synaptic loss in Alzheimer's disease, but that this might be largely independent of the beta/A4-amyloid deposition.