“Rejuvenating” the brain: external stimuli help the “molecular atlas”

OVIEDO (EFE).— A study conducted at the Center for Research in Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology (CINN) in Asturias has discovered that physical and cognitive environmental stimuli are capable of achieving a “molecular rejuvenation of the brain,” according to a statement from the Higher Center for Scientific Research (CSIC).

The study, led by the CSIC and published in the journal “Nature Communications”, generated a large collection of data, which scientists refer to as a “molecular atlas” and which describes the molecular changes that occur in the hippocampus during aging and its cognitive and physical stimulation.

The research was carried out at the Cancer Epigenetics and Nanomedicine Laboratory at CINN — a joint centre of the CSIC, the regional government of Asturias and the Spanish University of Oviedo — and used mice that lived for months in a space with a wide variety of objects, such as toys, ramps and tunnels.

This environment represented an important stimulation of the cognitive, physical and social activity of the rodents in the experiment.

According to the researchers, the results can be applied to humans who make a change in their lifestyle.

“The results of this work reveal how changes in our lifestyle can have a molecular and epigenetic impact on the body and can be used in healthy aging interventions,” said Mario Fernández Fraga, coordinator of the Cancer Epigenetics and Nanomedicine Laboratory at CINN and co-leader of the study.

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