'Superagers' with sharp memories in their 80s have larger neurons

2 years ago 110

Neurons successful a portion of the encephalon progressive successful representation whitethorn beryllium 10 per cent larger successful superagers than others aged 80 oregon over

Health 30 September 2022

By Carissa Wong

So-called SuperAgers support an exceptionally crisp representation into their eighties and above

“Superagers” – radical aged 80 oregon implicit with exceptionally bully memories – whitethorn person larger than expected neurons successful a portion of the encephalon that is captious for memory.

With age, astir radical acquisition a gradual diminution to their memory, but immoderate support a singular quality to callback past events into their eighties oregon older, connected par with radical 20 to 30 years younger.

Alongside a diminution successful memory, our brains people shrink with age, with erstwhile studies suggesting this occurs little with superagers.

Now, researchers person shown that superagers whitethorn person larger than expected neurons successful their entorhinal cortex, a constituent of the brain’s representation system.

Tamar Gefen astatine Northwestern University successful Illinois and her colleagues imaged brains donated by six superagers who died astatine an mean property of 91. The six individuals antecedently took part successful ongoing probe into superagers.

These images were compared with 7 radical who died astatine an mean property of 89 and a further six radical who died astatine an mean of 49, each of whom had memories that would beryllium considered mean for their age.

Among the superagers, their entorhinal cortex neurons were astir 10 per cent larger than those of the radical who died astatine a akin property with a to-be-expected memory.

The superagers’ neurons were adjacent astir 5 per cent larger than the radical who died 40 years younger, suggesting that larger than mean neurons whitethorn lend to an exceptional representation astatine property 80 oregon over.

The superagers besides had substantially less macromolecule clumps called tau tangles wrong their neurons than their counterparts who died astatine a akin age. An abnormal build-up of tau has been suggested arsenic a origin of Alzheimer’s disease.

“I americium not yet definite wherefore larger neurons are associated with preserved representation different than that they are much resistant to tau tangles,” says Gefen. “One different proposal is that they are much structurally dependable and tin make much optimal [neural connections].”

“[The wide study] adds to the increasing grounds that superagers disagree from emblematic adults connected aggregate levels of the brain,” says Alexandra Touroutoglou astatine Harvard Medical School.

“The illustration size present is comparatively small, but that’s understandable. Superagers are a uncommon group, truthful uncovering a bully fig of them successful a postmortem encephalon survey is difficult,“ she says.

According to Joseph Andreano, besides astatine Harvard Medical School, different encephalon regions linked to cognition person been shown to disagree successful size successful superagers compared with radical with a to-be-expected memory. It is unclear whether neuron size successful the entorhinal cortex specifically accounts for enhanced memory, helium says.