Latest research results show that reversing shut down immune cells protects the brain from aging

Is the cognitive impairment caused by aging related to immune cells? Studies have found that during the aging process, immune cells called macrophages shut down their main metabolic pathways, and restoring the metabolism of these cells is enough to alleviate the age-related cognitive decline in mice.

Macrophages are present in almost all tissues.

With age, most people will have chronic, low-grade inflammation.

In order to determine whether these changes can cause age-related cognitive dysfunction, the authors tested a strain of mice in which the body and brain only reduced the level of EP2 receptors in macrophages, and There are mice treated with EP2 inhibitors.

Minhas and his colleagues continue to study the metabolic reorganization of senescent macrophages in depth.

It is worth noting that there is also evidence of the role of microglia metabolism dysfunction in brain diseases, especially in Alzheimer's disease.

In sepsis (a disease caused by excessive inflammation caused by infection), PGE2 levels are also elevated, and long-term cognitive impairment often occurs.

Another interesting finding of the study by Minhas and colleagues is that even when EP2 inhibition is restricted to the periphery of the brain of aging mice (using a substance that cannot enter the brain), brain inflammation is also reversed and cognitive function is restored.

The next challenge will be to prove that the plasticity of such macrophages can be preserved at the end of a long human life, and that the PGE2-EP2 pathway is related to human brain aging and disease.

Reference materials:

Nature 590, 44-45 (2021) doi: https://doi.