SuperAgers’ brains carry a ‘resilience signature’ that defies aging |
Some people in their 80s and 90s remember as well as people decades younger. Scientists call them SuperAgers, and a new study may have found their secret. Their brains grow roughly twice as many new neurons as those of typical healthy older adults, and 2.5 times as many as people with Alzheimer’s disease.
Researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago analyzed 355,997 individual cell nuclei from 38 donated brains across 5 groups, including healthy young adults and Alzheimer’s patients. Using advanced single-cell sequencing, they mapped 3 stages of neuron development in the hippocampus, the brain’s memory center. SuperAgers stood out: they produced more new brain cells, and their neurons carried a distinct molecular profile the team calls a “resilience signature.”
“Something in their brains enables them to maintain a superior memory,” said lead author Orly Lazarov, professor and director of UIC’s Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementia Training Program. “I believe hippocampal neurogenesis is the secret ingredient, and the data support that.”
At the other end of the spectrum, people with early stage cognitive decline showed minimal new neuron growth, and those with Alzheimer’s generated almost none.
As the study relied on post-mortem tissue and a relatively small number of brains, it doesn’t prove that boosting neurogenesis alone prevents decline, but the pattern is striking.
For the full picture, including specific lifestyle strategies that researchers recommend, jump to “What makes SuperAgers’ brains so special?”
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