Respiration deficiencies in mitochondria, the cell’s powerhouses, are associated with changed social behavior and spatial memory in laboratory mice.This research, conducted by Atsuko Kasahara and colleagues at the University of Tsukuba, Kyoto University, and the Fujita Health University in Japan, may open the door to understanding the connection in humans between mitochondrial breakdowns and mental illness. Previous studies have shown that mitochondrial “cytopathies” can underlie conditions as diverse as muscle weakness, lactic acidosis, mental retardation, stroke, diabetes, or heart disease. Significant mitochondrial genetic defects have been found in patients diagnosed with neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. It also has been reported that mutated mtDNAs are associated with mood disorders and schizophrenia. Since the brain’s normal functioning depends on a large amount of the ATP energy that mitochondria harvest from food through aerobic respiration, Kasahara and colleagues theorized that pathogenic … Read more

Some brain systems become less coordinated with age even in the absence of Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study from Harvard University. The results help to explain why advanced age is often accompanied by a loss of mental agility, even in an otherwise healthy individual.The study was led by Jessica Andrews-Hanna, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Psychology in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard. “This research helps us to understand how and why our minds change as we get older, and why some individuals remain sharp into their 90s, while others’ mental abilities decline as they age,” says Andrews-Hanna. “One of the reasons for loss of mental ability may be that these systems in the brain are no longer in sync with one another.” Previous studies have focused on the specific structures and functions within … Read more

esearchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine have shown that the effects of sleep deprivation on cognitive performance can be reversed when the naturally occurring brain peptide, orexin-A, is administered in monkeys.”These findings are significant because of their potential applicability,” said Samuel A. Deadwyler, Ph.D., professor of physiology and pharmacology at Wake Forest. “This could benefit patients suffering from narcolepsy and other serious sleep disorders. But it also has applicability to shift workers, the military and many other occupations where sleep is often limited, yet cognitive demand remains high.” Orexin-A, also known as hypocretin-1, is a naturally occurring peptide produced in the brain that regulates sleep. It’s secreted by a small number of neurons but affects many brain regions during the day and people who have normal amounts of orexin-A are able to maintain wakefulness. When people or animals … Read more

High blood pressure appears to be associated with an increased risk for mild cognitive impairment, a condition that involves difficulties with thinking and learning, according to a report in the December issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.”Mild cognitive impairment has attracted increasing interest during the past years, particularly as a means of identifying the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease as a target for treatment and prevention,” the authors write as background information in the article. About 9.9 of every 1,000 elderly individuals without dementia develop mild cognitive impairment yearly. Of those, 10 percent to 12 percent progress to Alzheimer’s disease each year, compared with 1 percent to 2 percent of the general population. Christiane Reitz, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues at the Columbia University Medical Center, New York, followed 918 Medicare recipients age 65 and older (average … Read more