Key points from article :
Exposure to old serum causes hippocampal progenitor cells (HPCs), which form new neurons, to die.
Researchers found that chronological age was inversely correlated with brain volume.
Weak correlations between neuroblast numbers, DNA damage and donor brain volume.
A marker of cellular death, CC3, was approximately doubled with old serum (from people aged 77 years).
Cells cultured in older serum from people with very mild cognitive decline were found to have more immature neurons.
Older people who took hypertensives were found to have significantly more Ki67 (proliferation marker) than those that did not.
Most aging-associated genes did not change their expression.
Proteostasis-related enzyme UCHL1 was shown to increase; PARP 1 and RFN126 were decreased.
TMEM149, associated with chronological age, was increased, as is ENDOG.
Findings support serum assay as a potential biomarker for neurobiological age.
Study led by Sandrine Thuret from King’s College London, published in Aging and Disease.
