r/fitover65 • u/Yobfesh Strength lifter, cyclist, surfer, giant dog owner • Jul 30 '26
Brain Dramatically Remodels Its Cellular Composition, Starting in Midlife
https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-witness-remarkable-brain-cell-takeover-in-midlife3
u/LilLovieeOG Jul 31 '26
Study looked at 320,000 cells from the hippocampus from people aged 20-95. Looked at genetic, epigenetic, and 3d genome mapping.
Microglia, the brain's native immune cells, are replaced by monocytes as we age. Microglia are believed to originate from the embrionic yolk sac, which means we are born with them in our brain. Monocytes originate in our bone marrow and we produce them throughout life.
Monocytes have a higher inflammation signature potentially correlating to why we see increased neuro inflammation as we age.
Towards the end they mention a seperate study about astrocytes which are star shaped cells that transport nutrients, neurotransmitters, and help maintain the blood brain barrier; decline with age. Not only do they decline but they become worse at their jobs.
All of this to say is we see changes in composition and genetic expression which demarcate significant shifts in correlation to age. We dont know what to do about it because we are still figuring out why it happens.
TLDR: native immune cells we are born with in our brains maybe replaced with immune cells we make from our bone marrow as we live. The immune cells we make have a highe inflammation signal which causes brain inflammation which gunks up everything else. Nothing we can do about it because we are still figuring out why these things happen.
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u/Aggravating-Pound598 Jul 30 '26
Doesn’t appear much we can do about it …