Aging & Longevity

Successful repair after brain injury requires a chain of events, including the generation, migration, and successful integration of adult-born neurons into preexisting circuits. In mammals, the capacity for neuronal regeneration is extremely limited and further declines with age, constraining recovery. Regeneration-competent vertebrates offer a unique opportunity to uncover mechanistic principles of seamless brain repair. We here introduce the African turquoise killifish, a naturally short-lived...

Microglia, the resident macrophages of the central nervous system (CNS), are key players in maintaining brain and spinal cord homeostasis and protecting the CNS from damage and disease. During aging, the brain undergoes profound changes-including chronic low-grade inflammation, synaptic dysfunction, and increased vulnerability to neurodegenerative diseases-all of which are closely related to alterations in microglial function. One emerging theme is that microglial metabolism is a crucial...

Telomere length (TL) is a well-established biomarker of biological ageing, sensitive to cumulative physiological and psychosocial stress. This review synthesises current evidence on how pregnancy, postpartum stressors, and reproductive history shape maternal biological ageing, integrating findings from telomere biology and emerging epigenetic ageing measures. Pregnancy represents a period of substantial metabolic, hormonal, and immunological demand and is increasingly conceptualised as a...

Chronic subdural hematoma (CSDH) is among the commonest cranial neurosurgical conditions of older adults and is projected, on the basis of incidence modeling, to become the most common cranial neurosurgical condition in adults by 2030. Despite this clinical centrality, CSDH has not been formally examined through the conceptual lens of geroscience. This minireview reframes CSDH as a geroscience disease by mapping its pathogenesis onto the twelve hallmarks of aging articulated by López-Otín and...

Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS) is a rare genetic disorder characterized by the early development of pathological features associated with aging, ultimately leading to premature death. HGPS primarily affects tissues of mesenchymal origin, as evidenced by the clinical manifestations characteristic of this premature aging disorder, including, but not limited to, osteoporosis, muscle wasting, lipodystrophy, and cardiovascular disease. In this study, we used preclinical mouse models and...

The incidence of breast cancer shows its largest peak around the age of 65 but also a peak around 45 indicating a bimodal distribution. While some potential explanations, such as age-related enrichment in specific breast cancer sub-types and BRCA1/2 mutations were proposed, they do not explain why the peaks are at 45 and 65, raising the possibility that the way the breast ages may play a role. Here using two mouse models, we show two distinct aging patterns of the mammary gland; one being...

Frailty, defined by multisystem physiological decline and heightened vulnerability to stressors, is typically associated with aging and chronic disease. However, its relevance in apparently healthy individuals remains poorly understood. Identifying frailty in this population could inform primary prevention, as these individuals often remain outside healthcare systems. We investigated the association between frailty and incident chronic conditions and mortality in middle-aged adults free of...

Despite the substantial variability in physical function among older adults, the molecular mechanisms remain poorly characterized, particularly within skeletal muscle. This study aimed to determine the patterns of DNA methylation in skeletal muscle associated with physical function in healthy older adults. We analyzed DNA methylation (EPIC v2 array; 875,554 CpG sites) in skeletal muscle from 92 healthy older adults (median age 74; 62% female). Associations were examined across five phenotypes:...

Rapamycin supplementation has been reported to extend life spans in numerous species, including Drosophila melanogaster, but a recent study in this laboratory revealed a marked life-shortening effect in y w male flies. The experiments reported here were performed to characterize conditions under which rapamycin could extend or shorten life spans in five fly strains. On a cornmeal/torula yeast-based medium, rapamycin extended life in one experiment, had no effect in six and was harmful in 19. On...

CONCLUSIONS: Grab bar installations provided by community paramedics to community-dwelling older adults with a prior fall resulted in a significant reduction in fall-related EMS activations. This prevention approach demonstrates high potential for community paramedicine to offer an evidence-based intervention targeting at-risk older adults.

Young patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) have a better prognosis than the aged, but the underlying mechanisms are not clear. Here, we identified a population of IL-19^(+) monocytes derived from cranial bone marrow appearing in the brain after TBI. IL-19^(+) monocytes inhibit the glial hyper-response and promote neurological recovery after TBI through the IL-19/IL-20R axis, which is defective in aged patients. Further studies have proven that CX3CR1 on the IL-19^(+) monocytes is attracted...

Population aging represents one of the most significant social transformations of our time, with profound implications for health systems, social protection, and intergenerational solidarity. By 2050, 1 in 6 people globally will be aged 60 years or older, with the fastest growth occurring in low- and middle-income countries least prepared to respond. Alongside demographic shifts, sociocultural transitions-urbanization, changing family structures, and increased women's labor participation-are...

Central nervous system (CNS) disorders are fundamentally linked to metabolic dysregulation within immune and glial cells. This review provides a systematic synthesis of immunometabolic reprogramming-encompassing glucose, lipid, and amino acid metabolism, and oxidative phosphorylation-in CNS-resident microglia, immunomodulatory astrocytes, and peripherally infiltrating immune cells (T cells, B cells, and neutrophils) across Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, and...

Aging reshapes neurotransmitter systems through nonlinear and region-specific shifts that alter excitatory-inhibitory balance, weaken metabolic coupling, and destabilize large-scale neural networks. PET, MRS, molecular MRI, and optical imaging quantify elements of these trajectories, but modality-specific artifacts, cross-site variability, and limited spatial or temporal resolution fragment mechanistic interpretation. Artificial intelligence now enables the integration of these heterogeneous...

Impaired oligodendrocyte precursor cell (OPC) differentiation limits myelin renewal in aging and contributes to multiple sclerosis (MS) progression. How aging drives OPC deficits remains incompletely understood. We find dysregulation of genes associated with the circadian clock, including Bmal1, and metabolism in aged compared with young OPCs. Targeted loss of Bmal1 in OPCs drives metabolic dysfunction, leading to cellular senescence and impaired dynamics. OPC proliferation and differentiation...

CONCLUSION: AI-based CT volumetry identifies low skeletal muscle volume as an independent predictor of long-term mortality after TAVI. Muscle quantity, rather than muscle quality, appears to be the dominant prognostic determinant. AI-driven body composition analysis may serve as an imaging biomarker of biological aging and reduced physiological reserve in older adults undergoing TAVI.

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De novo mutations (DNMs) are an important source of congenital diseases. With delayed parenthood and assisted reproductive technology (ART) use increasing, it is essential to elucidate how these reproductive factors influence DNMs and whether resulting mutations influence offspring health. Here we performed whole-genome sequencing of 24,030 individuals from 7,851 parent-offspring families, identifying 390,924 de novo single-nucleotide variants (dnSNVs). Paternal and maternal aging exhibited...

Dementia arises from multifactorial neurodegenerative processes, with growing evidence implicating blood-brain barrier dysfunction, neuroinflammation, and vascular injury as contributors to progressive brain tissue damage. Because decline in white matter microstructural integrity is a prominent feature of brain aging, biomarkers that capture this process may improve dementia risk stratification beyond conventional clinical factors. Fractional anisotropy (FA), derived from diffusion tensor...

White matter integrity is a sensitive marker of cerebrovascular health and aging. Physical activity may promote white matter health, but previous studies were limited by self-reported activity and small sample sizes. We examined the association between accelerometer-based physical activity and novel indices of white matter integrity while identifying potential mediators. We analyzed cross-sectional baseline data from 4188 participants (58% women, mean age: 55.4 years) of the Rhineland Study, a...