Zer dela-eta zahartzen gara?

Aging is a natural human process that produces functional impairment. Numerous hypotheses try to explain human aging, such as seeing aging as an effect of the exhaustion of stem cells. Stem cells have renewal and differentiation capacity and the number of these cells decreases with aging. Brain is one of the most affected organs during aging. The decrease of Neural Stem Cells (NSC) reduces neuronal regeneration, provoking cognitive decline. Neurogenesis occurs in specific niches of the brain: the subventricular zone and the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus. Recent studies have demonstrated that this neurogenesis occurs not only in the childhood but also as the individual ages. It is therefore extremely important to investigate how to maintain neural stem cell function during aging in order to reduce cognitive decline.; Zahartzea bizidun guztietan gertatzen den prozesu natural bat da, denbora igarotzea-ren ondoriozko gainbehera funtzional gisa defini daitekeena. Gaur egun, hainbat hipotesi proposatu dira zahartzearen zergatia azaltzeko, eta horien artean aurkitzen da zelula amak agortzearen ikerketa-lerroa. Zelula amak, berritze-gaitasuna izateaz gain, ondoren zelula diferentziatuak sortzeko gai dira, baina kopuru aldetik murriztuz doaz zahartzaroarekin. Zehazki, garuna da zahartzaroak fisiologikoki gehien kaltetzen duen organoa. Adinak eragindako garuneko zelula amen agortze honek neuronen berritzea zailtzen du eta, ondorioz, indibiduo helduetan ikus dezakegun gainbehera kognitiboa eragiten du. Neurogenesia garuneko eremu espezifikoetan gertatzen da, bentrikulu azpiko eremuan eta hipokanpoko granulu azpiko eremuan, eta azken ikerketen arabera, haurtzaroan zein zahartzaroan gertatzen den prozesu bat da. Beraz, oso garrantzitsua da zahartzaroan zehar zelula ama hauen funtzioa nola mantendu daitekeen ikertzea, alderdi kognitiboan gertatzen diren galerak ekiditeko

In Vitro P38MAPK Inhibition in Aged Astrocytes Decreases Reactive Astrocytes, Inflammation and Increases Nutritive Capacity After Oxygen-Glucose Deprivation

Proper astroglial functioning is essential for the development and survival of neurons and oligodendroglia under physiologic and pathological circumstances. Indeed, malfunctioning of astrocytes represents an important factor contributing to brain injury. However, the molecular pathways of this astroglial dysfunction are poorly defined. In this work we show that aging itself can drastically perturb astrocyte viability with an increase of inflammation, cell death and astrogliosis. Moreover, we demonstrate that oxygen glucose deprivation (OGD) has a higher impact on nutritive loss in aged astrocytes compared to young ones, whereas aged astrocytes have a higher activity of the anti-oxidant systems. P38MAPK signaling has been identified to be upregulated in neurons, astrocytes and microglia after ischemic stroke. By using a pharmacological p38 alpha specific inhibitor (PH-797804), we show that p38MAPK pathway has an important role in aged astrocytes for inflammatory and oxidative stress responses with the subsequent cell death that occurs after OGD.Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SCHE 2078/2-1). Forderverein fur fruhgeborene Kinder an der Charite e.V. Basque Government Postdoc (2017_1_0095