Cells past their prime might have a function in dementia. Choosing these cells secured the brains of mice that were otherwise predestined for brain decrease, a brand-new research study discovers.

Senescent cells, which collect with age, are still alive however in a state of suspended animation– they stop doing their tasks and they stop dividing. Eliminating these cells in the body extends the life expectancy of mice and enhances their heart and kidney health, researchers have actually discovered ( SN: 3/5/16, p. 8). The brand-new research study, released online September 19 in Nature, recommends that senescent cells likewise make mischief in the aging brain

Molecular biologist Darren Baker of the Mayo Center in Rochester, Minn., and coworkers studied mice with anomalies that led afferent neuron in their brains to collect a hazardous kind of the protein tau. Harmful globs of this protein, called neurofibrillary tangles, are a trademark of Alzheimer’s illness and other dementias.

In a few of these mice, Baker and coworkers likewise crafted in a hereditary technique– a “kill switch” that ruins cells as quickly as they end up being senescent. In altered mice with this switch, tau didn’t collect as quick. Exactly what’s more, these mice were much better able to acknowledge brand-new smells and items than mice with more senescent cells in their brains. An anticancer drug called navitoclax that targets senescent cells likewise had protective results in these altered mice’s brains.

two images of the brains of 8-month-old mice