Super Agers Have Super Neurons

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Daily brief research updates from the cognitive sciences

SuperAgers are those who live long, over 80, but retain their cognitive functions including a healthy functioning memory and seem to avoid neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s.

Who wouldn’t want to know what is happening in their brains. But there are many questions. Is it their brain, or lifestyle, or the luck of the genetic lottery?

Well researchers around Caren Nassif of Northwestern University in the USA may have part of the answer. And this part lies in the size of neurons in specific regions of the brain.

To do this they analysed the donated brains of six SuperAgers, seven cognitively average elderly individuals, six young individuals, and also five individuals with early-stage Alzheimer’s.

They looked specifically at a part of the brain called the etorhinal cortex – this part is particularly important for the formation of memories which is why the researchers focused on this area. What they found is that this region had been spared from so-called tau tangles. These are clumps of protein which are markers of Alzheimer’s.

That is no surprise, but they noticed something that was surprising.

This was that the neurons in this particular region – actually in one of the six layers of brain cells in this region, layer two, to be precise – were larger.

Why is this important? Firstly, layer two of the layers of brain cells is the one that connects with other parts of the brain. But this size was not only larger than those with Alzheimer’s, or those of similar age but larger than those who were much younger also.

This suggests that this is not just healthy aging but a structural feature that seems more immune to aging. Avoiding those tau tangles is one thing because they become toxic and damage neurons is one thing but having big functional neurons is another thing.

So, all in, SuperAgers seem to have structural differences that enable their brains to remain highly functional in old age. In this particular case we now know what it is, and in what specific region. Whether this is in other region is an open question.

However, for those who aren’t SuperAgers, probably most of us,  a healthy lifestyle will still help to avoid the ravages of aging.

Andy Habermacher

Andy is author of leading brains Review, Neuroleadership, and multiple other books. He has been intensively involved in writing and research into neuroleadership and is considered one of Europe’s leading experts. He is also a well-known public speaker, speaking on the brain and human behaviour.

Andy is also a masters athlete (middle distance running) and competes regularly at international competitions (and holds a few national records in his age category).

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References

Caren Nassif, Allegra Kawles, Ivan Ayala, et al.
Integrity of neuronal size in the entorhinal cortex is a biologic substrate of exceptional cognitive aging.
The Journal of Neuroscience, 2022; JN-RM-0679-22
DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0679-22.2022

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