Yale finds cause of age related memory loss and finds it may be reversible — from NextBigFuture.com
Excerpts (emphasis DSC):
A new study published July 27 in the journal Nature shows that the neural networks in the brains of the middle-aged and elderly have weaker connections and fire less robustly than in youthful ones. Intriguingly, note the scientists, the research suggests that this condition is reversible.
…
Arnsten said that the aging prefrontal cortex appears to accumulate excessive levels of a signaling molecule called cAMP, which can open ion channels and weaken prefrontal neuronal firing. Agents that either inhibited cAMP or blocked cAMP-sensitive ion channels were able to restore more youthful firing patterns in the aged neurons. One of the compounds that enhanced neuronal firing was guanfacine, a medication that is already approved for treating hypertension in adults and prefrontal deficits in children, suggesting that it may be helpful in the elderly as well, note the researchers.
Arnsten’s finding is already moving to the clinical setting. Yale School of Medicine is enrolling subjects in a clinical trial testing guanfacine’s ability to improve working memory and executive functions in elderly subjects who do not have Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias.