Having more positive life experiences is linked to a lower risk of developing brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease.Alzheimer’s diseaseCognitive decline slows with age and even longer life. But it remains unclear how feelings and experiences translate into physical changes that protect or damage the brain.
A study conducted by researchers at Columbia University Irving Medical Center (Kwimk) in New York (USA) now suggests that brain mitochondria may play a crucial role in brain health, and that mood, for better or worse, affects mitochondria.
Mitochondria provide energy for the brain, and the new study shows that the molecular machinery that mitochondria use to convert energy is increased in older people who have experienced less psychological stress during their lives compared to people who have had more negative experiences.
“We show that the mental state of older people is linked to brain mitochondrial biology, and this is the first time that subjective psychosocial experiences have been linked to brain biology,” he says. Caroline Trumpfassistant professor of medical psychology, who led the research with Martin Pickard Associate Professor Medicine Behavioral at the College of Physicians and Surgeons Vagelos From Columbia University and the Robert N. butler Colombia.
“We think that mitochondria in the brain are like antennae, picking up molecular and hormonal signals and transmitting information to the cell nucleus, changing the life course of each cell. If mitochondria are able to change cell behavior, they can change the biology of the brain. The mind and the person as a whole,” he adds.
The new research used data collected through two large studies of nearly 450 older adults in the United States. Each study collected detailed psychosocial information from participants over two decades of their lives. Study participants donated their brains after they died for further analysis, providing data on the condition of participants’ brain cells.
Trumpf created indices that converted patient reports of positive and negative psychosocial factors into a single score of overall psychosocial experience. He also categorized each participant into seven domains representing different gene networks active in mitochondria.
“Use indicators mitotips He noted that multivariate is an important innovation because we can interpret the biological state of mitochondria more easily through relevant gene networks than by analyzing thousands of individual genes. Picard.
The state of mind that generates well-being improves brain health
The results showed that the mitochondrial domain, which assesses the organelle’s energy conversion mechanism, was associated with psychosocial outcomes. “Another luxury Gran It was associated with higher abundance of proteins in mitochondria needed for energy conversion, while negative mood was associated with lower protein content.” Trumpf.
This may be the reason why chronic stress and negative experiences are harmful to the brain, because they damage or hinder the conversion of mitochondrial energy into energy.barking The frontal lobe DorsolateralIt is the part of the brain responsible for high-level cognitive tasks.
The researchers also looked at mitochondria in certain types of brain cells, and found that the associations between mitochondria and psychosocial factors were driven not by the brain’s neurons, but by its glial cells, which may perform more functions than those traditionally assumed to be “support.”
Although the current study cannot determine whether the participants’ psychosocial experiences changed their brain mitochondria or whether innate or acquired mitochondrial conditions contributed to these experiences, other studies suggest that the relationship between mitochondria and promoting brain condition works in both directions. .
He says the evidence is very strong in animal studies PicardChronic stress affects mitochondrial energy conversion. And in people, a recent study he conducted Picard And his assistant Elissa Ebel In theUCSF She found the first evidence that mood can affect mitochondria in humans: In this study, positive mood predicted increased mitochondrial energy production. Gran However, in the participants’ blood cells in the following days to’Mitochondrial activity did not predict mood in the following days.
A growing group of He works In animals and humans it also indicates that themselves Mitochondria can change behavior. “These mechanisms can reinforce each other, to’Chronic stress can alter an individual’s mitochondrial biology in a way that subsequently affects their perception of social events, creating more stress. “The picture that emerges in the literature is that all of these pathways are interactive,” he adds. Trumpf.
Although the brain’s energy conversion mechanism was greater in participants with higher psychosocial scores, researchers do not yet know whether this leads to more energy conversion. Gran. Trumpf I Picard These studies are currently being conducted on hundreds of brains from the same groups of participants. The team is also exploring a way to measure the health of brain mitochondria, which could be used in doctors’ offices in the future.
“Mitochondria are the source of health and life, but we have no ways to measure health, only disease. We need the science of health. We need evidence of how healthy and resilient a person is.” Picard.
“This will be clinically useful for monitoring changes in health before disease sets in, and could transform medical research by giving scientists something to point to over decades of accumulated protein deposits or other forms of protein.” Danny In the long term,” he says.
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