Loading ...How the brain ages is still largely an open question – in part because this organ is mostly insulated from direct contact with other systems in the body, including the blood and immune systems.
In research that was recently published in “Science,” Weizmann Institute researchers Prof. Michal Schwartz and Dr. Ido Amit found evidence of a unique “signature” that may be the “missing link” between cognitive decline and aging. Their findings showed that the health of one’s immune system plays an important role in maintaining normal function in the brain, and preventing deteriorating cognition. The scientists believe that this discovery may lead, in the future, to treatments that can slow or reverse cognitive decline in older people.
Until a decade ago, scientific dogma held that the blood-brain barrier prevents the blood-borne immune cells from attacking and destroying brain tissue. Yet in a long series of studies, Schwartz’s group showed that the immune system actually plays an important role both in healing the brain after injury and in maintaining the brain’s normal functioning. They have found that this brain-immune interaction occurs across a barrier that is actually a unique interface within the brain’s territory. Read more