What are the cellular origins of age-related brain volume loss?
Science / Open Science
What causes age-related brain volume loss? As we age, our brains gradually shrink, a process that typically begins around the age of 40. This decline in brain volume has often been linked to the loss of neurons, the most studied type of brain cell. However, the areas of the brain that shrink the most have a higher concentration of glial cells than neurons. Importantly, glial cells can change their size in response to changes in their environment within the brain. Based on this observation, we propose a new idea: that the reduction in brain size observed with aging is mainly due to glial cell shrinkage. To test this idea, we will use advanced genetic techniques to control the precise size of glial cells in experimental models. If our hypothesis is confirmed, it suggests that the age-related decline in brain size may be reversible.
