Decoding molecular mechanisms: brain aging and Alzheimer's disease.

The complex morphological, anatomical, physiological, and chemical mechanisms within the aging brain have been the hot topic of research for centuries. The aging process alters the brain structure that affects functions and cognitions, but the worsening of such processes contributes to the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease. Beyond these observable, mild morphological shifts, significant functional modifications in neurotransmission and neuronal activity critically influence the aging brain. Understanding these changes is important for maintaining cognitive health, especially given the increasing prevalence of age-related conditions that affect cognition. This review aims to explore the age-induced changes in brain plasticity and molecular processes, differentiating normal aging from the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease, thereby providing insights into predicting the risk of dementia, particularly Alzheimer's disease.

Astrocyte-neuron lactate shuttle plays a pivotal role in sensory-based neuroprotection in a rat model of permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion.

We have previously demonstrated protection from impending cortical ischemic stroke is achievable by sensory stimulation of the ischemic area in an adult rat model of permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion (pMCAo). We have further demonstrated that a major underpinning mechanism that is necessary for such protection is the system of collaterals among cerebral arteries that results in reperfusion of the MCA ischemic territory. However, since such collateral flow is weak, it may be necessary but not sufficient for protection and therefore we sought other complementary mechanisms that contribute to sensory-based protection. We hypothesized that astrocytes-neuron lactate shuttle (ANLS) activation could be another potential underpinning mechanism that complements collateral flow in the protection process. Supporting our hypothesis, using functional imaging, pharmacological treatments, and postmortem histology, we showed that ANLS played a pivotal role in sensory stimulation-based protection of cortex and therefore serves as the other supporting mechanism underpinning the protection process.

Pulse waveform analysis on temporal changes in ocular blood flow due to caffeine intake: a comparative study between habitual and non-habitual groups.

PURPOSE: To evaluate and compare the temporal changes in pulse waveform parameters of ocular blood flow (OBF) between non-habitual and habitual groups due to caffeine intake. METHOD: This study was conducted on 19 healthy subjects (non-habitual 8; habitual 11), non-smoking and between 21 and 30 years of age. Using laser speckle flowgraphy (LSFG), three areas of optical nerve head were analyzed which are vessel, tissue, and overall, each with ten pulse waveform parameters, namely mean blur rate (MBR), fluctuation, skew, blowout score (BOS), blowout time (BOT), rising rate, falling rate, flow acceleration index (FAI), acceleration time index (ATI), and resistive index (RI). Two-way mixed ANOVA was used to determine the difference between every two groups where p < 0.05 is considered significant. RESULT: There were significant differences between the two groups in several ocular pulse waveform parameters, namely MBR (overall, vessel, tissue), BOT (overall), rising rate (overall), and falling rate (vessel), all with p < 0.05. In addition, the ocular pulse waveform parameters, i.e., MBR (overall), skew (tissue), and BOT (tissue) showed significant temporal changes within the non-habitual group, but not within the habitual group. The temporal changes in parameters MBR (vessel, tissue), skew (overall, vessel), BOT (overall, vessel), rising rate (overall), falling rate (overall, vessel), and FAI (tissue) were significant for both groups (habitual and non-habitual) in response to caffeine intake. CONCLUSION: The experiment results demonstrated caffeine does modulate OBF significantly and response differently in non-habitual and habitual groups. Among all ten parameters, MBR and BOT were identified as the suitable biomarkers to differentiate between the two groups.