The scientists at the Allen Institute for Brain Science have identified the molecular changes that occur in the brains of ageing mice and located a hot spot where most damage is centralized. The cells in the area are also connected with metabolism, thus suggesting a connection between diet and brain health.
Washington [USA], January 5 (ANI): The
scientists at the Allen Institute for Brain Science have identified the
molecular changes that occur in the brains of ageing mice and located a hot
spot where most damage is centralized. The cells in the area are also connected
with metabolism, thus suggesting a connection between diet and brain health.
Scientists at the Allen Institute have identified specific cell
types in the brains of mice that undergo major changes as they age, along with
a specific hot spot where many of those changes occur. The discoveries are
published in the journal Nature.
The study found that in ageing brains, genes associated with
inflammation increased in activity while those related to neuronal structure
and function decreased.
"Our
hypothesis is that those cell types are getting less efficient at integrating
signals from our environment or from things that we're consuming," said
Kelly Jin, Ph.D., a scientist at the Allen Institute for Brain Science and lead
author of the study.
"And that loss of efficiency somehow contributes to what we
know as ageing in the rest of our body. I think that's pretty amazing, and I
think it's remarkable that we're able to find those very specific changes with
the methods that we're using."
Through this study, scientists discovered
a possible connection between diet, lifestyle factors, brain ageing, and
changes that can influence our susceptibility to age-related brain disorders.
They found a specific hot spot combining both the decrease in
neuronal function and the increase in inflammation in the hypothalamus. The
most significant gene expression changes were found in cell types near the
third ventricle of the hypothalamus, including tanycytes, ependymal cells, and
neurons known for their role in food intake, energy homeostasis, metabolism,
and how our bodies use nutrients.
To conduct the study, funded by the National Institutes of Health
(NIH), researchers used cutting-edge single-cell RNA sequencing and advanced
brain-mapping tools developed through NIH's THE BRAIN Initiative to map over
1.2 million brain cells from young (two months old) and aged (18 months old)
mice across 16 broad brain regions.
The aged mice are what scientists consider to be the equivalent of a late middle-aged human. Mouse brains share many similarities with human brains in terms of structure, function, genes, and cell types.
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