The cholinergic receptor nicotinic α3 was reduced in the hippocampus of cognitively impaired old mice and upregulated by nicotine and cytisine in HT22 cells

Microarrays were performed to facilitate a comparative analysis of the hippocampi in old mice exhibiting normal versus declined cognitive function. The results demonstrated that the expression of the cholinergic receptor nicotinic α3 subunit (Chrna3) was significantly reduced in old mice with cognitive decline compared to control. The hippocampus was extracted from C57BL7 mice.