New brain cells growing until the day we die

THE brain never stops growing, scientists have found in a landmark discovery that could help treat degenerative diseases.

Researchers previously believed that the brain did not grow any more cells after childhood, which is why it is so much harder for adults to pick up new skills or learn a foreign language.

More recent studies suggested that if specific zones of the brain were hyperstimulated then cells could form. One involved London black cab drivers studying the “Knowledge” – a mental map of London – who were found to have an increased number of neurons in areas linked to navigation.

But a study has found that new brain cells are forming all the time, even among the elderly. It suggests problems with mental ability and memory associated with old age are not down to a loss of neurons, but rather a failure of cells to communicate with each other.

Maura Boldrini, associate professor of neurobiology at Columbia University, said: “We found that older people have similar ability to make thousands of hippocampal new neurons from progenitor cells as younger people do.

“We also found equivalent volumes of the hippocampus, a brain structure used for emotion and cognition, across ages.

“Nevertheless, older individuals had less vascularisation [blood vessel formation] and maybe less ability of new neurons to make connections.”

The breakthrough could help scientists understand the causes of dementia and how to prevent it from occurring. There are 850,000 people suffering dementia in Britain with the figure expected to rise to 1.2 million by 2025.

For the research, scientists looked at the hippocampus in 28 previously healthy individuals aged 14 to 79, who had died suddenly. They found that even in the oldest brains, new cells were still forming up to death.

The research was published in the journal Cell Stem Cell.