Memory loss doesn’t have to be a normal part of getting older.
New research from Virginia Tech has found that certain changes in the brain that happen with age can actually be reversed, giving new hope for preventing or treating memory decline.
The research was led by associate professor Timothy Jarome and his graduate students. They carried out two studies using older rats to better understand how memory works in aging brains. Rats are often used in this type of research because their brains are similar in some ways to human brains.
In the first study, the scientists looked at a brain process called K63 polyubiquitination. This process acts like a control system, helping proteins inside brain cells know what to do. These proteins help brain cells talk to each other and form memories.
As animals get older, this process changes. In the hippocampus, which helps with learning and memory, the process becomes too active. In the amygdala, which helps with emotional memory, the process becomes less active.
To fix this, the team used a tool called CRISPR-dCas13 to adjust this process in the rats’ brains. When they lowered the activity in the hippocampus and further reduced it in the amygdala, the older rats started to perform better in memory tasks. This showed that fine-tuning this molecular activity could restore memory ability.
In the second study, the researchers focused on a gene called IGF2, which helps support memory. As the brain ages, this gene becomes “silenced” and stops working as well. This silencing is caused by a natural process called DNA methylation, where small chemical tags shut the gene off.
The team used a different tool, CRISPR-dCas9, to remove these chemical tags and “turn the gene back on.”
When they did this, older rats improved significantly in memory tests. Interestingly, middle-aged rats who didn’t yet have memory problems weren’t affected. This suggests that the treatment works best when memory decline has already started—not before.
These studies show that age-related memory loss isn’t caused by just one thing. Instead, it involves several systems in the brain changing at once. That’s why researchers need to look at the full picture, not just one molecule or gene at a time.
Both studies were led by graduate students in Jarome’s lab. Yeeun Bae led the first study on protein tagging, and Shannon Kincaid led the second one on the IGF2 gene. The work was done with help from other universities and supported by the National Institutes of Health and the American Federation for Aging Research.
According to Jarome, more than a third of people over 70 experience memory loss, which is also a major risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease. These new findings suggest that some memory problems can be fixed by adjusting how brain cells work at the molecular level.
Reviewing these studies, it’s clear that the results are exciting. The researchers were able to improve memory in older rats by carefully adjusting two very different brain processes. This suggests that future treatments for memory loss could target specific brain changes with high precision.
However, it’s also important to remember that these studies were done in rats. More research is needed before we know if the same results can be achieved in humans. Still, the findings give hope that science is moving closer to understanding—and eventually treating—age-related memory loss.
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The study findings are published in Neuroscience and Brain Research Bulletin.
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