Department of Neurobiology, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.
Trends Neurosci. 2009 Jul;32(7):367-75. doi: 10.1016/j.tins.2009.03.003. Epub 2009 Jun 10.
The factors that determine brain aging remain a mystery. Do brain aging and memory loss reflect processes occurring only within the brain? Here, we present a novel view, linking aging of adaptive immunity to brain senescence and specifically to spatial memory deterioration. Inborn immune deficiency, in addition to sudden imposition of immune malfunction in young animals, results in cognitive impairment. As a corollary, immune restoration at adulthood or in the elderly results in a reversal of memory loss. These results, together with the known deterioration of adaptive immunity in the elderly, suggest that memory loss does not solely reflect chronological age; rather, it is an outcome of the gap between an increasing demand for maintenance (age-related risk-factor accumulation) and the reduced ability of the immune system to meet these needs.
大脑衰老的决定因素仍然是个谜。大脑衰老和记忆力下降是否反映了仅在大脑中发生的过程？在这里，我们提出了一个新的观点，即将适应性免疫的衰老与大脑衰老联系起来，特别是与空间记忆恶化联系起来。先天免疫缺陷，除了在年轻动物中突然出现免疫功能障碍外，还会导致认知障碍。作为推论，成年或老年时的免疫恢复会导致记忆丧失的逆转。这些结果，再加上老年人适应性免疫的已知恶化，表明记忆力下降不仅仅反映了实际年龄；相反，它是维持（与年龄相关的风险因素积累）的需求不断增加与免疫系统满足这些需求的能力下降之间差距的结果。
