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- Relationship to Diabetes
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Age may not cause our nervous system to deteriorate, according to new research from the Yale School of Medicine.
Axons, or nerve fibers, tend to grow and repair themselves more slowly as they age, and Yale researchers have discovered that insulin pathways, already known for regulating life span, also regulate neurons? ability to regenerate. Their findings, published Thursday in the journal Neuron, show that the brain?s regulation of neuronal health span is independent of its regulation of life span. The findings have implications for developing more effective treatments for neurological injuries, said Alexandra Byrne, lead author of the study and a postdoctoral fellow in genetics at the Yale School of Medicine.
?An aged neuron?s inability to regenerate [is] not simply a secondary consequence of a decrepit animal,? she said. ?Instead, the insulin pathway is actively inhibiting regeneration in the neurons of aged animals.?
http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2014/01/21/insulin-key-in-neuron-regeneration/
Axons, or nerve fibers, tend to grow and repair themselves more slowly as they age, and Yale researchers have discovered that insulin pathways, already known for regulating life span, also regulate neurons? ability to regenerate. Their findings, published Thursday in the journal Neuron, show that the brain?s regulation of neuronal health span is independent of its regulation of life span. The findings have implications for developing more effective treatments for neurological injuries, said Alexandra Byrne, lead author of the study and a postdoctoral fellow in genetics at the Yale School of Medicine.
?An aged neuron?s inability to regenerate [is] not simply a secondary consequence of a decrepit animal,? she said. ?Instead, the insulin pathway is actively inhibiting regeneration in the neurons of aged animals.?
http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2014/01/21/insulin-key-in-neuron-regeneration/