Protective brain cells may drive age-related cognitive decline
A study led by the University of Edinburgh and the UK Dementia Research Institute found that brain cells responsible for maintaining myelin can become dysfunctional with age and produce abnormal amounts of it, damaging nerve fibers. The research combined human brain tissue, mouse experiments, and long-term cognitive data from the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936. The findings suggest a possible target for treatments aimed at protecting memory and thinking in older age.
The study drew on the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936, whose participants had thinking skills tracked from childhood. Of 1,091 people, 866 completed extra cognitive tests after age 70. Between 70 and 82, they were assessed for memory, processing speed, and spatial reasoning. Most showed some decline, but at differing rates.
Postmortem brain tissue from a subset revealed that faster decline was linked to fewer large nerve fibers and unusual myelin accumulation. This association concerned the pace of change, not test scores at one age. Oligodendrocytes, the cells that make and maintain myelin, were the focus.
Older adults and their families may be most directly affected if these findings lead to treatments that slow memory and thinking decline. Because drugs acting on the implicated pathway are already used for other neurological conditions, researchers could potentially test adapted therapies sooner. Still, any societal benefit would depend on whether such treatments prove safe and effective in aging populations, and on how widely they become available. For now, the work mainly shifts scientific attention toward myelin-producing cells as a possible target.