Renata Moura and Kamila Tuenia
reporters
When you look at a person, you can tell approximately how old they are based on characteristics such as the appearance of their skin, their posture, or whether or not they have gray hair. But when it comes to cells, which are very similar, how can you tell which are younger or older?
A study developed by researchers from Edmond and Lily Safra International Institute of Neuroscience (IIN-ELS), from the Santos Dumont Institute (ISD), in partnership with researchers from Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), from State University of Rio Grande do Norte (UERN), and the Uppsala University, in (Sweden), describes how certain proteins indicate the age of neurons – the cells of the nervous system – and opens new perspectives for research on how to combat “the bad part of aging”, such as possible neurodegenerative diseases and difficulties related to sleep.
Details of the study are in the article “Aging Alters Daily and Regional Calretinin Neuronal Expression in the Rat Non-image Forming Visual Thalamus” (“Aging alters the expression Regional and daily levels of calretinin in non-image-forming visual thalamic neurons of rats”, in literal translation), published in February of this year by the Swiss journal Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience.
The study was featured in the print and online editions of the Tribuna do Norte newspaper this Sunday (04). Click here to read.
RESULTS
According to Felipe Fiuza, professor-researcher at the Edmond and Lily Safra International Institute of Neuroscience and one of the authors of the article, the results can contribute to possible discoveries about how to slow down the aging of cells in the nervous system and, therefore, make this process – which can cause diseases such as Alzheimer's – less harmful.
Furthermore, the study sheds more light on the question of because as people age they find it difficult to regulate sleep, as well as visual processes related to how they detect light and dark.
THE RESEARCH
“If I can identify people based on their characteristics, could we do the same thing by looking at cells in the nervous system?” was the central question raised by the research, carried out between 2017 and 2020.
The study focused on a specific protein, calretinin, which controls the amount of calcium inside neurons. According to Fiuza, from IIN-ELS, this protein has the particularity of expressing itself in different ways at different times of the day. “In the morning, it is in greater quantity and in the evening, in smaller quantity. This is very important for understanding how certain parts of the brain work,” he explains.
“The part we studied is related to vision and how we detect when it is light and when it is dark. What we saw was that older neurons lose the ability to control the level of this protein throughout the day, while younger neurons do not. Younger neurons have a kind of clock inside them that controls these variations throughout the day,” he adds.
According to the researcher, this may help explain why older people have a fragmented sleep pattern, that is, why they may eventually wake up several times during the night or nap several times throughout the day – instead of registering just one night's sleep – while younger people concentrate their sleep and wakefulness over longer periods.
With this discovery, researchers have established a way to identify the age of neurons in these regions and are also trying to understand why, as people age, they face difficulties in regulating sleep and in regulating visual processes related to how they detect light and dark.
IMPACTS
“The impacts of this on society will be seen in the long term. As we continue to describe how aging occurs in different parts of the brain, we can also try to find ways to combat specific aspects that the bad part of aging causes, such as neurodegenerative diseases. These diseases are closely associated with the imbalance of calcium mechanisms in neurons,” observes Fiuza, adding that understanding these issues is a bridge to creating interventions in this area and to supporting new research in the field of neuroscience.
New medications and strategies to not only slow down the aging process but also to link it to a better quality of life are among the possibilities that are emerging. First, however, new questions need to be answered.
“If I see that an old neuron loses mechanisms to control the protein on a daily basis, what can I do to antagonize this? In other words, what can I do to both slow down the aging process and try to make this process less harmful to the cell, less damaging from the point of view of the neuron’s function?”, explains Fiuza about possible future steps for scientists.
According to the researcher, the study affects all living beings and the impacts will be observed in the long term, as research describes how cell aging occurs in different parts of the brain. “Since all living beings age, studies of this nature also have an impact on understanding the similarities in the aging process in all animals. This comparative context helps to understand why different animals live different lifespans and which pathological particularities are attenuated or exacerbated in different experimental models.”
NEXT STEPS
According to Fiuza, the aging process and how it affects different areas of the brain has characterized a vast and innovative line of research. The goal is to identify how aging can occur in a way that is less damaging to the body from a functional point of view.
The next step, he adds, is to expand the research – done on cells in the nervous system related to vision – to other proteins and regions of the brain. “We will seek to understand other proteins that also work in regulating calcium concentration, see how these levels of regulation may be affected during aging and what the impact is on each specific area of the brain,” he said.
The article is the result of a collaboration between researchers Felipe Fiuza (IIN-ELS), Ramon Hypolito Lima (IIN-ELS), Carlos Aquino (UFRN), Diego Câmara (UFRN), Luiz Eduardo Brandão (Uppsala University), José Rodolfo Cavalcanti, (UERN) Rovena Engelberth (UFRN) and Jeferson Cavalcante (UFRN).
Among the authors is also the student of the Edmond and Lily Safra International Institute of Neuroscience, José Pablo Queiroz, who defended his dissertation for the Master's Degree in Neuroengineering this year with the title “Morphometric analysis of the Glia-Neuron Ratio as an indicator of the hippocampal pathological state of elderly individuals with Alzheimer's Disease”. The results of the work could contribute to making the diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease more accurate and to ensuring that signs are identified earlier and earlier.
Click on the post below, published on the Institute's Instagram profile, to find out more:
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Text: Renata Moura, Journalist, and Kamila Tuenia Journalism Intern / Ascom – ISD
Images: Provided by researchers
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Santos Dumont Institute (ISD)
It is a Social Organization linked to the Ministry of Education (MEC) and includes the Edmond and Lily Safra International Institute of Neurosciences and the Anita Garibaldi Health Education and Research Center, both in Macaíba. ISD's mission is to promote education for life, forming citizens through integrated teaching, research and extension actions, in addition to contributing to a fairer and more humane transformation of Brazilian social reality.
