Neuroscientists from the US and China have determined that the brains of so-called “supercentenarians”—elderly individuals maintaining exceptionally sharp minds and robust memory—generate new nerve cells at a rate two and a half times greater than their healthy peers experiencing typical aging.
Brain Tissue Regeneration in the Elderly is Active
For an extended period, scientific consensus held that the production of new neurons ceased shortly after birth. However, research over the last few decades has revealed that neurogenesis persists throughout the lifespan in specific brain regions. Among these areas is the hippocampus, which functions as the brain’s core memory center. The cessation of new neuron formation here has conventionally been linked to the decline in cognitive functions observed in old age.
The researchers sought to ascertain whether the rate of neurogenesis varied among individuals who aged differently. They examined brain tissue samples donated to science by healthy young adults, normally aging seniors, supercentenarians, and patients afflicted by dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. From these samples, approximately 356,000 hippocampal cells were isolated, and the activity of genes responsible for nervous tissue formation was subsequently analyzed.
The findings indicated that supercentenarians possessed neural progenitor cells at a level 2.5 times higher than that found in healthy elderly individuals undergoing standard aging processes. In contrast, among those suffering from dementia, the generation of new cells had nearly entirely halted.
The scientific community posits that should they succeed in identifying the molecular pathways that shield neurogenesis, it may become possible to either slow down or entirely prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s disease for millions worldwide.
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