Cognitive decline and loss of function associated with aging results from decreases in dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin, loss of cortical volume and function and a loss in the integrity of frontal white matter tracts. More severe neural degeneration results in diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. While the young brain is capable of a limited amount of neuronal repair following injury, the older brain does not appear to respond to disease and injury in the same way. Microenvironments within the brain change with advancing age and may prevent neurotrophins from diffusing and reaching their targets as in their younger counterparts. Furthermore, the number of neural stem cells is significantly decreased in the older brain, which may contribute to the reduced neurogenesis seen with advancing age. Neural stem-cell therapies combining co-transplantation of predifferentiated cells with neurotrophin-producing stem cells thus hold promise in the treatment and prevention of such cognitive declines.
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Brazel et al. (2005) studied this question.
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