AGE-DEPENDENT LOSS OF NMDA RECEPTORS IN HIPPOCAMPUS, STRIATUM, AND FRONTAL-CORTEX OF THE RAT - PREVENTION BY ACETYL-L-CARNITINE

Acute i.p. administration of Acetyl-L-Carnitine (ALCAR), a component o f several biological systems, has been found to modify spontaneous and evoked electrocortical activity in young rats, and, in the old rats, to improve learning ability and to increase the number of NMDA recepto rs in the whole brain. The present study was aimed at ascertaining the effect of chronic treatment with ALCAR added to drinking water on age -related changes in the different brain areas of rats. In twenty-four- month-old rats, ALCAR treatment for six months significantly impeded t he decline in the number of NMDA receptors within the hippocampus, the frontal cortex and the striatum compared to the adult animal. This fi nding thus confirms the previously reported positive effect of ALCAR o n the brain NMDA receptor system.