Neuron (brain cell)  source: depositphotos.com

I  am 83 years old – or 83.3 to be exact, 111 days into my next birthday. Hence the subject of aging brains is a very personal one.

New York Times writer Dana G. Smith reports on a new paper published in Nature * detailing research on the brains of ‘super agers’ – people 80 and over whose brains remain “almost perfectly intact, their thinking as sharp at 80 as it was in their 50s!”.  (No – I am an ‘ager’, not a super-ager).

Disouky, A., Sanborn, M.A., Sabitha, K.R. et al. Human hippocampal neurogenesis in adulthood, ageing and Alzheimer’s disease. Nature (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10169-4

How come? Hippocampal neurogenesis. A fancy term for a part of the brain, the hippocampus, that is able to generate new brain cells (neurons) to replace faulty ones. [The hippocampus plays a vital role in consolidating information from short-term to long-term memory]. Researchers did autopsies on the brain cells of 20-to-40-year-olds, superagers, and those with Alzheimer’s (dementia). Here is what Dana G. Smith reported:

“[Researchers led by Orly Lazarov, U. of Chicago] … identified genetic markers for three key types of cells: neural stem cells, neuroblasts and immature neurons. It’s almost like neural stem cells are babies, neuroblasts are kind of teenagers and immature neurons are kind of almost adults,” said Orly Lazarov, a professor of neuroscience at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine, who led the research. The presence of all three types could suggest that stem cells are active and dividing in the brain and that those new baby cells are maturing into adult neurons.”

In short – superagers seem to have neural stem cells (cells that are able to become anything, including neurons) and that generate new brain cells (neurons) to replace those that die or are discarded. This is known as neurogenesis. And it reflects a huge breakthrough in neuroscience, which once believed, as an article of faith, that we are born with 86 billion neurons and that that is all we ever have.

It turns out, according to Dr. Tamar Gefen, Northwestern University, who was part of the research team, that “super aging happens not only because there’s more of these young cells, but because there is a type of genetic programming that allows for their preservation”.

It does NOT mean your genes doom you or gift you, fatalistically. We all can exercise our brains, just as we exercise our biceps or quads. Maintain your curiosity, learn new things, and work your brain out as often and as long as you can. Even if your brain doesn’t generate new neurons, it will keep the old ones fit and smart.

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)