Exercise is known to improve cognitive function and neurogenesis, the process by which new neurons are created by neural stem cells and then mature to integrate into existing neural networks. Neurogenesis is best studied in the hippocampus, where it is necessary for learning and memory function to take place. It is also likely important in the very limited ability of the central nervous system to recover from injury and in general maintenance of brain tissue over time. In today's open access paper, researchers demonstrate that exercise reverses age-related changes in the gene expression and be ..read more

There is considerable interest in developing biomarkers to detect the earliest stages of Alzheimer's disease, well prior to symptoms. To the degree that Alzheimer's is a lifestyle condition, it might be postponed or averted if discovered early on. To the degree that it is not a lifestyle condition, then the first viable anti-amyloid immunotherapies offer some chance, the odds yet to be determined, of averting Alzheimer's in the earliest stages. Some progress has been made on predictive biomarkers that can be assessed a decade or more prior to symptoms, but work continues to broaden and improve ..read more

Thrombosis is the inappropriate clumping of platelets to form blood clots in blood vessels, leading to potential blockage and serious injury as tissues are deprived of blood flow. This undesirable situation occurs more readily with age. Platelets are produced by megakaryocyte cells, and the count of platelets in the blood tends to increase in older people. Why does this happen? Researchers here dig in to some of the details, and find that age-related changes in hematopoiesis in the bone marrow produce a distinct population of megakaryocytes that manufacture a greater number of platelets. Furth ..read more

In recent years, it has become clear that the gut microbiome contributes meaningfully to long-term health, perhaps to much the same degree as exercise, diet, and other common lifestyle choices. Unlike those choices, the composition of the gut microbiome is more inscrutable, however. While commercial services employing 16S rRNA sequencing can cost-effectively list the microbial species present in the intestines, and their relative proportions, it remains a work in progress to (a) reliably connect differences in the list to pathologies of aging, and (b) reliably alter the gut microbiome in deter ..read more

Angiogenesis, the complex set of processes by which new blood vessels are produced, becomes less efficient with advancing age. One important consequence is a loss of capillary density, which has a range of detrimental effects on tissue function, particularly in energy-hungry tissues such as the brain and muscle. Regeneration from injury is also dependent on the quality and efficiency of angiogenesis. Researchers here take a narrow focus on the question of angiogenesis relevant to bone tissue maintenance and regeneration, and the use of exosome therapies to improve angiogenesis. To the degree t ..read more

One of the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic is that the biotech industry is now geared up for the use of messenger RNA (mRNA) as a basis for therapy. The broadest use at present is vaccination, as doses can be very low and the experience gained during the pandemic is directly applicable, but many other forms of mRNA gene therapy are under development. Given the ability to produce novel mRNA vaccines, the most obvious use beyond infectious disease is to force the immune system to engage with cancerous tissue. This line of development appears to be making good progress. In a first-ever hum ..read more

In today's open access paper, researchers discuss the role of bone marrow aging in the chronic inflammation observed in the aging brain. This inflammation is clearly of great importance in the onset and development of neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's disease; it is disruptive to the function of the brain. The immune system of the body originates in the hematopoietic cell populations of bone marrow, where cells of the innate immune system are created, as well as the thymocyte precursors to adaptive immune cells. With age, the production of immune cells becomes biased towards inn ..read more

Fight Aging! publishes news and commentary relevant to the goal of ending all age-related disease, to be achieved by bringing the mechanisms of aging under the control of modern medicine. This weekly newsletter is sent to thousands of interested subscribers. To subscribe or unsubscribe from the newsletter, please visit: https://www.fightaging.org/newsletter/ Longevity Industry Consulting Services Reason, the founder of Fight Aging! and Repair Biotechnologies, offers strategic consulting services to investors, entrepreneurs, and others interested in the longevity industry and its complexities ..read more

Epigenetic marks such as DNA methylation control expression of genes and cell behavior. They change with age, a reflection of the processes of damage and dysfunction that occur with age. Researchers here focus on DNA methylation in one organ in mice to demonstrate that age-related changes are not linear over time. The individual goes through stages and phase transitions from one state of cellular behavior to another. This is worth considering when thinking about how epigenetic clocks that measure biological age might work in practice, especially when used as a way to evaluate the efficacy of p ..read more

Epigenetic age is most commonly measured via blood sample, assessing the epigenetic markers of immune cells in that sample. Unfortunately the present mainstream epigenetic clocks will provide different ages for different immune cell populations. This leads to meaningful variation in assessments of the same individual, because different cell populations might be present in somewhat different proportions in each blood sample. We might also question which of the cell populations provide the most useful epigenetic age when it comes to responsiveness to interventions that might slow or reverse aspe ..read more