Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
In aging worms at least, it is insulin, not Father Time, that inhibits a motor neuron's ability to repair itself?a finding that suggests declines in nervous system health may not be inevitable.
All organisms show a declining ability to regenerate damaged nervous systems with age, but the study appearing in the Feb. 5 issue of the journal Neuron suggests this deficit is not due to the ravages of time.
"The nervous system regulates its own response to age, separately from what happens in the rest of the body," said Marc Hammarlund, assistant professor of genetics and senior author of the new study. "By manipulating the insulin pathway, we can make animals that live longer but have nervous systems that age normally, or conversely, we can make animals that die at a normal age but have a young nervous system."
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-01-age-obstacle-nerve-cell-regeneration.html
All organisms show a declining ability to regenerate damaged nervous systems with age, but the study appearing in the Feb. 5 issue of the journal Neuron suggests this deficit is not due to the ravages of time.
"The nervous system regulates its own response to age, separately from what happens in the rest of the body," said Marc Hammarlund, assistant professor of genetics and senior author of the new study. "By manipulating the insulin pathway, we can make animals that live longer but have nervous systems that age normally, or conversely, we can make animals that die at a normal age but have a young nervous system."
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-01-age-obstacle-nerve-cell-regeneration.html