by A study by the Neurovascular Research Group of Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM) made it possible to establish relationship between biological age, which is independent of the chronology, and the appearance of a indicator of brain aging.
It is areas of the brain which appear differently in Magnetic resonance imaging and which indicate that it is a fabric where the some blood it comes with more difficulty, IMIM reports this Friday in a press release.
“A good part of the effect of the passage of years on our brain is not only due to the chronological age, the one we have for our date of birth, but for the biological age, this explains many other things which not only chronological”, explained the coordinator of the research group, Jordi Jimenez-Conde.
The studio opens the door to having new tools improve the prognosis and follow-up of patients, thus making it possible to identify with a blood test which individuals will be more likely to present a accelerated brain aging.
The researchers worked with data from 247 patients who had suffered a stroke and to which a magnetic resonance this established the volume of white matter hyperintensities in their brains.
On the other hand, the biological age has been determined in blood samples, thanks to the methylation analysis of your DNA, which changes depending on external factors, such as life habits.
In this way, it was possible to show for the first time how “biological age, the aging of the body, has a direct association with brain aging, regardless of chronological age,” the researcher said.
42.7% aging
Biological age would explain 42.7% of cerebral aging measured by the presence of hyperintensities of the white matter, and the researcher Joan Jiménez-Balado stated that it was necessary to continue studying the effect of genetics on these brain damage, since it can help to better understand the biological mechanisms involved in brain aging.
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Jiménez-Balado said it would be “very interesting in future studies” use the new calculation approximations which make it possible to classify the hyperintensities of the white matter depending on aspects such as its location.
A strong presence of white matter hyperintensity is associated with various pathologies, such as Non-specific cognitive disorder, gait disturbances and a worse prognosis in the brain’s ability to recover from any pathology that affects it.
