Brain Aging and Regeneration After Injuries: an Organismal Approach

Aging is associated with a decline of locomotor, sensory and cognitive performance in humans and experimental animals. The rate and pattern of organismal senescence may be regulated in part by changes in multiple genes involved in multiple processes. While this theory is supported by genetic data in lower organisms, a lack of direct experimental evidence in higher organisms has contributed to a broader acceptance of the "stochastic aging" model, in which accumulating, random damaging biological events play an important role. However, these insults alone cannot account for the inexorable deterioration and loss of function that characterizes aging. The higher the complexity of a system, the less obvious is the effect of genetic regulation on aging and the life span, indicating that epigenetic factors play an important role in aging. Most importantly, we present evidence that aging systems do retain some capacity for regeneration and functional recovery after injuries to the central nervous system like cerebral ischemia.