As mammals age, the levels of inflammation increase. I’m not talking about painful reactions to wound or infection, but rather a calmer, abrasive, background inflammation that gets more intense the longer we live. This growing inflammation is associated with diabetes, high blood pressure, fragility, cancer and just about every chronic health problem we see in old age. It also includes cognitive decline, and at least in this case, scientists believe it can be reversed by managing inflammation in the brain, as studies from mice have shown.
Researchers at the University of Brighton in the UK have found that microglia – a specialized population of macrophage-like cells in the central nervous system, which act as immune cells defending the brain and spinal cord against foreign invaders – are highly vulnerable to changes in the levels of inflammation, especially in a molecule called prostaglandin E2 (PGE2).
When these molecules were in large quantities, the microglia had difficulty performing their normal cellular processes, and related cells did not generate as much energy as they could.
The levels of PGE2 naturally increase with age in our cells and those of other mammals due to the growing number of senescence cells. These dysfunctional cells can no longer divide and their presence causes the release of PGE2, as well as other inflammatory molecules.
But there is a way to reverse this process. Write in the journal Earth, scientists described how PGE2 exerts its effects on cells by interacting with the EP2 receptor on the macrophages, another important type of white blood cell.
When these white blood cells were treated in the laboratory with drugs that turned off this receptor, the cells recovered. The researchers repeated the experiment on mice, starting from the petri dish.
The researchers had genetically modified rodents that did not have the EP2 receptor, and just waited until they were old (the average lifespan of a mouse in captivity is two years). They then tested the cognitive abilities of these elderly mice by subjecting them to a shower of tests, including mazes and tasks of ‘object localization’.
Strikingly, the researchers found that the old genetically modified mice could learn and remember things just as well as their young counterparts. The same effects were repeated in old, normal mice that were not genetically modified but that received drugs that turn the EP2 receptor on or off.
In essence, this series of experiments shows that suppression of the PGE2 receptor may be an important target for the treatment and perhaps even reversal of age-related cognitive disorders. Or at least that seems to be the case with mice. Clinical trials in the future on humans may shed more light.
Meanwhile, research has shown that foods like blueberries, strawberries and spinach improve cognition in older mice and humans. These foods are rich in physetin, quercetin and resveratrol, which are known to flush out senescent cells from the body. One possible mechanism by which they can achieve this is by blocking PGE2 at the cellular level. So, until more research can provide more straightforward answers, you need to supplement the spinach.
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