Status Updates From The Aging Brain

Ch 8
Alzheimers
no cure
Donepezil - inc acetylcholine in cns
Memantine - reduces glutamate, reducing “excitotoxicity”

Prevention
Genetic major - eg APOE (mt E4 homozygotes 10x more likely to have Alzheimer
Environmental minor -
Stay “active” - haha 20’ twice a week
Eat right - mediterranean diet

Amyloid beta plaques - come from beta and gamma secretase degradation of APP protein

Ch7
Memory

Four Key Points About Memory
1. We remember interesting information that we process deeply
2. We remember visuospatial information better than verbal information
3. We remember information connected to what we already know
4. We remember information we test ourselves on

Went back to Ch 3
Is aging a disease ?
No - everyone gets it (old) there isnt a “healthy” population
Yes - the dictionary definition seems to suggest it is a departure from YOUR norm. AND lobsters and hydras dont age! They keep growing and living until killed.
Mechanisms of cell damage
Energy intake
Free radicals
Mutations / loss of telomere length

Compensate by using the other hemisphere sometimes

Ch 5
Age-Related Declines
• Neural specificity - discriminating within tasks
• Neural variability - even when resting brain use varies and its not random, higher variability is associated with faster processing speed
• Neural inhibition - being able to screen out irrelevant info
• Default mode regulation - again when idling brain fxn in special areas declines

Ch 4
Brain shrinkage in key areas of age related decline correlate with known loss of function:

Shrinking pre frontal cortex - loss of executive function
Shrinking hippocampus (in medial temporal lobe) - loss in episodic memory
Shrinking white matter (esp coherence as detected by DTI On MRI) - loss in processing speed, this hurts PFC and hippo too

Aging brain loses:
processing speed,
executive function
Episodic Memory - the right now and a day ago

But gains in
Crystalline function - long term memory, vocabulary

* fun fact chance of dying doubles every 8 years