Superagers' 'Secret Ingredient' May Be the Growth of New Brain Cells
(Tuesday March 03, 2026 @05:00AM (BeauHD)
from the brain-refresh dept.)
- Reference: 0180896766
- News link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/26/03/03/048214/superagers-secret-ingredient-may-be-the-growth-of-new-brain-cells
- Source link:
[1]alternative_right shares a report from ScienceAlert:
> According to a study of 38 adult human brains donated to science, superagers -- people who retain exceptional memory as they age -- [2]have roughly twice as many immature neurons as their peers who age more typically . Moreover, people with Alzheimer's disease show a marked reduction in neurogenesis compared to a normal baseline. [...]
>
> Led by researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago, the team set out to examine a variety of postmortem hippocampal tissue samples to see if they could identify markers of neurogenesis -- and if different groups had any notable differences. The brain samples were donated from five groups: eight healthy young adults, aged between 20 and 40; eight healthy agers, aged between 60 and 93; six superagers, aged between 86 and 100; six individuals with preclinical Alzheimer's pathology, aged between 80 and 94; and 10 individuals with an Alzheimer's diagnosis, aged between 70 and 93. The young healthy adult brain tissue was first analyzed to establish the neurogenesis pathways in the adult brain. Then, they analyzed 355,997 individual cell nuclei isolated from the hippocampus, searching for three different stages of cell development: Stem cells, which can develop into neurons; neuroblasts, which are stem cells in the process of that development; and immature neurons, on the verge of functionality. The results were striking.
>
> "Superagers had twice the neurogenesis of the other healthy older adults," [says neuroscientist Orly Lazarov of the University of Illinois Chicago]. "Something in their brains enables them to maintain a superior memory. I believe hippocampal neurogenesis is the secret ingredient, and the data support that." That's an interesting result on its own, but the data from the individuals with preclinical Alzheimer's pathology and Alzheimer's diagnoses is where the real meat of the study sits. In the preclinical group, subtle molecular changes hinted that the system supporting new neuron growth was beginning to falter. In the Alzheimer's group, a clear drop in immature neurons was evident. A genetic analysis of the nuclei also showed that superager neural cells have increased gene activity linked to stronger synaptic connections, greater plasticity, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor, a critical protein for neural survival, growth, and maintenance. Taken together, these three things can be interpreted as resilience.
The research has been [3]published in the journal Nature .
[1] https://slashdot.org/~alternative_right
[2] https://www.sciencealert.com/superagers-secret-ingredient-may-be-the-growth-of-new-brain-cells
[3] https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10169-4
> According to a study of 38 adult human brains donated to science, superagers -- people who retain exceptional memory as they age -- [2]have roughly twice as many immature neurons as their peers who age more typically . Moreover, people with Alzheimer's disease show a marked reduction in neurogenesis compared to a normal baseline. [...]
>
> Led by researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago, the team set out to examine a variety of postmortem hippocampal tissue samples to see if they could identify markers of neurogenesis -- and if different groups had any notable differences. The brain samples were donated from five groups: eight healthy young adults, aged between 20 and 40; eight healthy agers, aged between 60 and 93; six superagers, aged between 86 and 100; six individuals with preclinical Alzheimer's pathology, aged between 80 and 94; and 10 individuals with an Alzheimer's diagnosis, aged between 70 and 93. The young healthy adult brain tissue was first analyzed to establish the neurogenesis pathways in the adult brain. Then, they analyzed 355,997 individual cell nuclei isolated from the hippocampus, searching for three different stages of cell development: Stem cells, which can develop into neurons; neuroblasts, which are stem cells in the process of that development; and immature neurons, on the verge of functionality. The results were striking.
>
> "Superagers had twice the neurogenesis of the other healthy older adults," [says neuroscientist Orly Lazarov of the University of Illinois Chicago]. "Something in their brains enables them to maintain a superior memory. I believe hippocampal neurogenesis is the secret ingredient, and the data support that." That's an interesting result on its own, but the data from the individuals with preclinical Alzheimer's pathology and Alzheimer's diagnoses is where the real meat of the study sits. In the preclinical group, subtle molecular changes hinted that the system supporting new neuron growth was beginning to falter. In the Alzheimer's group, a clear drop in immature neurons was evident. A genetic analysis of the nuclei also showed that superager neural cells have increased gene activity linked to stronger synaptic connections, greater plasticity, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor, a critical protein for neural survival, growth, and maintenance. Taken together, these three things can be interpreted as resilience.
The research has been [3]published in the journal Nature .
[1] https://slashdot.org/~alternative_right
[2] https://www.sciencealert.com/superagers-secret-ingredient-may-be-the-growth-of-new-brain-cells
[3] https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10169-4
Use it or lose it (Score:2)
by 2TecTom ( 311314 )
we've known this for a long time, sure studies like this are important, but without real world applications this is just more junk science so rich kids can play at being scientists and enjoy all the perks of lifelong employment and academic prestige as they congratulate each other for thier climbing the towers of institutionilization
this is just people use science as a justification for corruption, our education system is classist and self-serving
billions spent on 'science' yet we're destroying the biospher
Al-zheimers (Score:3)
by gtall ( 79522 )
Use it or lose it. If you let your brain atrophy by letting AI do your "thinking" for you, you will become mentally incompetent. Companies and organizations diving in the deep end of AI are cutting their own throats.
"Journalism" (Score:2)
"Blah blah MAY BE blah blah blah". Yeah, but it also may not.