La Jolla Team Links Brain Aging to Microglial Replacement Around Age 50
Updated
Updated · Oncodaily · Aug 21
La Jolla Team Links Brain Aging to Microglial Replacement Around Age 50
3 articles · Updated · Oncodaily · Aug 21
Summary
A La Jolla team says human brain aging may hinge on “microglial replacement,” with resident microglia progressively displaced by inflammatory monocytes from the bone marrow.
Around age 50, the report says, brain biology undergoes a non-linear shift in gene regulation, DNA methylation, chromatin accessibility and 3D genome architecture that may accompany that cellular turnover.
Astrocytes also deteriorate with age, showing impaired ATP synthesis and a gradual loss through lysosomal autophagy of about 0.2% a year from age 20.
The proposed mechanism could help explain age-related memory loss and, if the migration pathway is mapped in the brain, might offer a route to deliver CNS-targeted psychiatric therapies.