Health & Medicine

Brain Aging Linked to Genes: Cognitive Decline Revealed with New Study

Catherine Griffin
First Posted: Nov 06, 2013 08:20 AM EST

As we age, our brain function can decline. Numerous studies have been devoted to finding out ways to either slow or halt this process. Now, though, scientists have discovered a major factor behind this decline; it turns out that it's largely influenced by genes.

"Identification of genes associated with brain aging should improve our understanding of the biological processes that govern normal age-related decline," said John Blangero, one of the researchers, in a news release.

In order to examine aging a bit more closely, the researchers examined 1,129 people aged 18 to 83. They documented profound aging effects from young adulthood to old age, on neurocognitive ability and brain white matter measures. White matter actively affects how the brain learns and functions. Genetic material shared amongst biological relatives appears to predict the observed changes in brain function with age.

"The use of large human pedigrees provides a powerful resource for measuring how genetic factors change with age," said Blangero in a news release.

The researchers then applied a sophisticated analysis of the data. In the end, they demonstrated a heritable basis for neurocognitive deterioration with age that could be attributed to genetic factors. Similarly, decreasing white matter integrity with age was influenced by genes.

That's not all the scientists discovered, though. They also found out that different sets of genes are responsible for these two biological aging processes. This research could help scientists determine whether someone is more at risk for cognitive decline earlier in life. This could allow patients to take preventative measures in order to help them live longer with a better mental capacity.

"A key advantage of this study is that we specifically focused on large extended families and so we were able to disentangle genetic from non-genetic influences on the aging process," said David Glahn, one of the researchers, in a news release.

The findings are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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