Dissecting the role of cerebrovascular dysfuntion in brain aging Tony Wyss-Coray, Stanford University School of Medicine
Brain aging leads to cognitive decline and is the main risk factor for sporadic forms of neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer's disease. While brain cell- and tissue-intrinsic factors are likely key determinants of the aging process recent studies from our lab and others document a remarkable susceptibility of the brain to circulatory factors. Thus, blood borne factors from young mice or humans are sufficient to slow aspects of brain aging and improve cognitive function in old mice, and vice versa, factors from old mice are detrimental for young mice and impair cognition. In trying to understand the molecular basis of these observations we found evidence that the cerebrovascular is an important target and that brain endothelial cells show prominent age-related transcriptional changes consistent with localized inflammation. We are exploring the relevance for these findings for neurodegeneration and potential application towards therapies.
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