Researchers have identified 13 proteins linked to brain aging. According to their findings, changes in the concentration of these proteins in the blood can indicate a person’s brain age.
In the future, neurologists plan to develop anti-aging therapies that could influence the levels of these proteins.
What Did the Scientists Discover?
In their new study, a team of Chinese scientists, sponsored by the National Center for Neurological Disorders, analyzed MRI results from nearly 11,000 individuals aged 45 to 82. This allowed the researchers to assess the “brain age gap” for each participant, meaning how much their brain age differed from their biological age.
Using artificial intelligence, the scientists determined the brain age of the participants to evaluate certain physiological characteristics, such as brain volume and surface area. The assessment results revealed the extent to which the brain had undergone accelerated aging, as reported by Live Science.
The team then analyzed the concentration of about 3,000 proteins in the blood of nearly 5,000 participants. Since blood connects the brain to the rest of the body, changes in protein levels in the blood are expected to reflect changes in the brain.
Overall, the researchers found 13 proteins whose concentrations in the blood were significantly associated with biological brain age. The levels of proteins linked to aging factors, such as cellular stress and inflammation, increased in the blood as biological brain age rose. Meanwhile, the levels of proteins that help maintain brain function, particularly those involved in cellular regeneration, decreased as people aged.
The protein brevinin showed the strongest correlation with biological brain age. Its concentration decreased as people aged, and this decline indicated a strong correlation with dementia and stroke.
Brevinin is known to facilitate communication between neurons. Thus, this discovery supports previous research suggesting that this protein serves as a measurable marker for the development of neurodegenerative diseases.
Additionally, the scientists found that the most significant changes in the concentrations of the 13 proteins occurred at specific age milestones, namely at 57, 70, and 78 years old.
The study’s results were published in the journal Nature Aging.