Researchers discover one cause of cognitive decline in aging population
Wednesday, June 2, 2010 - 14:51
in Health & Medicine
Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine have found that certain types of specializations on nerve cells called "spines" are depleted as a person ages, causing cognitive decline in the part of the brain that mediates the highest levels of learning. These spines receive an important class of synapses that are involved with the process of learning. The discovery provides the medical community with a new therapeutic target to help prevent this loss of function. The study is published in the June 2 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.