Pilots Studied to Understand the Aging Brain

Pilots Studied to Understand the Aging Brain

From HealthDay October 25, 2011 // Published online October 18, 2011 in the journal of Translational Psychiatry

http://news.yahoo.com/aging-brains-decline-may-hinge-gene-130406334.html

Researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine and the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System have identified a gene variation that seems to have a major effect on the rate men experience a decrease in intellectual function due to age.

144 pilots over the age of 40 were divided into two groups after taking blood and saliva samples and doing genetic evaluations. The pilots were divided based on having a variant of the BDNF gene, which produces a protein called “brain-derived neurotropic factor.” From previous studies, a variant of the BDNF gene that contains methionine or “met” was thought to increase the rate of intellectual decline.

The pilots were given the flight simulator test three times in two years. The scores in both groups declined over time, but the rate of decline was much steeper in the “met” group. The rate of decline was double in the “met” variant group. MRI scans also found that the “met” variant group showed significant age-related decline in the hippocampus, a brain area that is important to memory and spatial reasoning.

The study suggested one way to keep BDNF levels higher in your brain was to keep physically active. This study is important to help identify people at risk of losing their cognitive functions earlier than normal and to figure out a way to counteract the methionine variant.