Brain Region Vulnerable to Aging is Larger in Those with Longevity Gene Variant

According to researchers from the University of California San Francisco, people who carry a variant of a gene that is associated with longevity also have larger volumes in a front part of the brain involved in planning and decision making. The findings from the study, published in the journal Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology, reinforces previous discoveries that middle-aged and older people who carry a single copy of the KLOTHO allele, called KL-VS, performed better on a wide range of cognitive tests. When researchers modeled KL-VS in mice, they found this strengthened the connections between neurons and enhanced learning and memory. During the study, researchers scanned the brains of 422 cognitively normal men and women, ages 53 and up, to see if the size of any brain area correlated with carrying one, two or no copies of the allele. They found that the KLOTHO gene variant predicted the size of a region called the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (rDLPFC), which is especially vulnerable to atrophy as people age. Deterioration in this area may be one reason why older people have difficulty suppressing distracting information and doing more than one thing at a time. Researchers found that the rDLPFC shrank with age in all three groups, but those with one copy of KL-VS, about a quarter of the study group, had larger volumes than either non-carriers or those with two copies. Researchers also found that the size of the rDLPFC predicted how well the three groups performed on cognitive tests, such as working memory — the ability to keep a small amount of newly acquired information in mind — and processing speed. To read more about this study, click here.