Synaptic Autophagy in Normal Cognitive Aging
As we age, our cognitive function declines. This is called “normal cognitive aging” and may happen because the cellular processes that keep our brain cells healthy tend to become less efficient with age. One such process, called autophagy, helps recycle old and damaged parts of the cell by first collecting this cellular garbage and then carrying it to be broken down. This AFAR-supported project will investigate how autophagy-mediated collection of cellular garbage and its transportation change with age, and will test if increasing cellular garbage collection or speeding up transport of this garbage for degradation can make old brain cells behave more like younger brain cells. Understanding how aging affects cellular garbage removal may help identify ways to improve brain health as we age, and thus protect against “normal cognitive aging.”
