Vascular Risk and Amyloid Level in the Brain Interact to Speed Cognitive Decline

In a recent paper, researchers provided evidence to suggest that the risk factors associated with cardiovascular decline with age interact with amyloid-β in the brain to accelerate cognitive decline. Having more of both produces a worse prognosis, which is not all that surprising. This is the case in many areas of aging and age-related disease: forms of damage and dysfunction interact with one another, making consequences worse than would be the case if they were independent of one another. This is one of the reasons why aging is an accelerating process, starting off slow and picking up pace ever more rapidly as the damage and dysfunction mounts. It is also one of the reasons why it is hard to predict the benefit resulting from any given approach to rejuvenation based on damage repair without actually trying it. Cardiovascular risk factors such as raised blood pressure and excess fat tissue somewhat measure and somewhat predict the pace at which the complex machinery of blood vessels ages. In particular the failure of smooth muscle in blood vessel walls to correctly react to circumstances with dilation and contraction, the loss of capillaries delivering nutrients to energy-hungry tissues like the brain, and the progression of atherosclerosis, weakening and narrowing blood vessels with fatty plaques. There are other important processes, however, such as the routes for drainage of cerebrospinal fluid, or other ways in which amyloid-β and other metabolic waste might exi...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs