The remarkable brains of ‘SuperAgers’ hold clues about ho...
A new study reports signs that nerve cells in the brain keep dividing over the decades.
What’s Happening
Not gonna lie, A new study reports signs that nerve cells in the brain keep dividing over the decades.
News Neuroscience The remarkable brains of ‘SuperAgers’ hold clues about how we age New results add to the debate over whether humans make new nerve cells into adulthood A small study of cells deep inside donated brains like this one suggests that quick-witted older people might generate newborn nerve cells, though the results are far from conclusive. Shane Collins/Northwestern University By Laura Sanders 2 hours ago this: via email (Opens in new window) Email on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit on X (Opens in new window) X Print (Opens in new window) Print A look inside the brains of extraordinarily sharp elderly people reveals clues about their unusual abilities. (wild, right?)
Deep in these exceptional brains were signs of what some scientists believe to be newborn nerve cells , born well into old age.
The Details
The results, published February 25 in Nature , add datapoints to the scientific debate about whether adults can make new neurons, a process called neurogenesis, and if they can, what those neurons are good for. Whether that debate is now settled depends on who you ask — as not everyone agrees that the reported signs are from dividing neurons.
For our We summarize the week’s scientific breakthroughs every Thursday. Neuroscientist Orly Lazarov of the University of Illinois Chicago and colleagues set out to investigate how different brains age, and what sorts of changes might keep some people sharp for decades.
Why This Matters
Their study focused on brain samples taken after death, giving the researchers access to brain tissue that would otherwise be unreachable. The tissue came from five groups of six to 10 people each: young, healthy adults; old, healthy adults; old adults with early signs of dementia; old adults with Alzheimer’s disease; and “SuperAgers,” adults at least 80 years old with the memory power of a person 30 years younger.
The scientific community tends to find developments like this significant.
The Bottom Line
This story is still developing, and we’ll keep you updated as more info drops.
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Originally reported by Science News
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