Neuroscience of Aging

Aging is a multifaceted process that involves interacting brain regions and neurotransmitter systems that are not uniformly affected by aging. As should be expected given the variability in vulnerability to aging among brain regions and systems, some everyday abilities decline more than others in normal aging. Emotion is a fascinating domain within the study of aging because emotional functions show fewer declines in normal aging than many other processes, and in some cases, are as or more effective in older adults than in younger adults. In an article, first review brain regions and neurotransmitter systems that play important roles in emotion and how these fare in aging. Then review age differences in various emotional tasks and processes and what is known about how they relate to age-related brain changes. Among all body organs, the aging of human brain is most incapacitating with its fallouts on quality of life, general health and psychosocial implications. There are progressive aging changes in the brain with increasing chronological age. However, at the individual level rate and types of changes are variable. The aging of brain entails several structural, bio-chemical and functional changes in the brain as well as various cognitive changes. The changes that may affect cognition and behavior occur at the molecular, intracellular, intercellular and neuronal tissue levels. Further, as suggested by the research in animal models, with aging there are distinct changes in the expression of genes at the neuronal level. In fact, aging is a major risk factor for the common neurodegenerative diseases, which include mild cognitive impairment (MCI), Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease. The role of the neurotransmitter systems in aging will get expertise on the international platform in Neuro Forum 2023.