How does the brain age?

The process that causes the brain to age has remained somewhat of a mystery to scientists and it has previously been thought that it follows a different path to the rest of the body during the passing of time.

Researchers have identified the molecular pathway in the body that reacts to cell damage and stems the cell's ability to divide. This is known as cell senescence, but not every cell has this ability, such as neurons in the brain.

This means that the process that the brain goes through when ageing has been unmapped. However, researchers at the University of Newcastle now claim that ageing in neurons follows the same rules as elsewhere in the body.

While this was only observed in a mouse study, the discovery has the potential to change the understanding of the brain.

Professor Thomas von Zglinicki, leader of the study, commented: "We will now need to find out whether the same mechanisms we detected in mouse brains are also associated with brain ageing and cognitive loss in humans.

"We might have opened up a short-cut towards understanding brain ageing, should that be the case."

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