Correlations between Water Maze Performance and Cortical Somatostatin mRNA and High‐affinity Binding Sites During Ageing in Rats

Somatostatin levels and high‐affinity (somatostatin‐1) binding sites are decreased in post‐mortem cortical samples of Alzheimer's disease patients but the relationships between such modifications and the cognitive deficits remain to be established. We investigated these relationships in the ageing rat. Three age groups (3–4, 14–15 and 26–27 months) were tested in a modified version of the Morris water maze. Somatostatin mRNA levels were quantified by in situ hybridization and somatostatin binding sites by radioautography using the selective agonist octreotide (SMS 201995) as a competing drug to evaluate high‐affinity (somatostatin‐1) and low‐affinity (somatostatin‐2) binding sites. The number of somatostatin mRNA‐containing cells was not modified with age or memory performance in cortical, hippocampal and hypothalamic regions, but somatostatin mRNA densities were significantly decreased with age and with memory performance in the frontal and parietal cortex. In the frontal cortex somatostatin mRNA densities were already decreased in 14‐ to 15‐month‐old rats, whereas the decrease was observed only in 26‐ to 27‐month‐old rats in the parietal cortex. A decrease in somatostatin‐1 binding was observed with memory performance, independently of age, in the basolateral amygdala only, while somatostatin‐2 binding sites were not affected. In the frontal and parietal cortex, a significant correlation occurred between the latency to find the invisible platform in the water maze and somatostatin mRNA ( r = ‐0.54 and 0.59 respectively, P > 0.02). These results indicate that ageing rats with memory impairments display some of the features of the somatostatinergic deficits observed in Alzheimer's disease.