Systemic administration of a fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 agonist rescues the cognitive deficit in aged socially isolated rats

Abstract Social isolation predominantly occurs in elderly people and it is strongly associated with cognitive decline. However, the mechanisms that produce isolation-related cognitive dysfunction during aging remain unclear. Here we evaluated the cognitive, electrophysiological and morphological effects of short- (4 weeks) and long-term (12 weeks) social isolation in aged male Wistar rats. Long-term but not short-term social isolation increased the plasma corticosterone levels and impaired spatial memory in the Morris water maze. Moreover, isolated animals displayed dampened hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP) in vivo , both in the dentate gyrus (DG) and CA1, as well as a specific reduction in the volume of the stratum oriens and spine density in CA1. Interestingly, social isolation induced a transient increase in hippocampal basic fibroblast growth factor (FGF2), while fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 (FGFR1) levels only increased after long-term isolation. Importantly, sub-chronic systemic administration of FGL, a synthetic peptide that activates FGFR1, rescued spatial memory in long-term isolated rats. These findings provide new insights into the neurobiological mechanisms underlying the detrimental effects on memory of chronic social isolation in the aged.