Do you remember...?

If you’re over 40 and struggling to remember where those car keys are, the name of the nice neighbour or what you did last weekend, you may be experiencing age-related memory loss.

This is memory loss associated with getting older, but is not the degenerative and much more serious dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.

Recent work by Eric Kandel, Nobel Prize winning psychiatrist, has turned up interesting findings about this kind of memory loss.

Age-related memory loss typically starts when people are in their 40s whereas Alzheimer’s disease typically begins at 65-70 years of age.

It usually involves difficulty remembering little things like facts, events, objects, people and places.

Mild memory loss is a common phenomenon as we get older. It is difficult to obtain exact figures on its prevalence because many people do not report it to their physician.

It is often thought to be simply a normal part of aging and only when memory loss becomes more serious does it get brought to the attention of a medical professional.

Studies examining brains at autopsy of people who were between the ages of 40-90 and who did not have Alzheimer’s disease found a systematic decrease of mRNA and a particular protein, over time in the part of the brain called the dentate gyrus.

This is the area of the brain where age-related memory loss is thought to begin.

They found this same protein decreased in the dentate gyri of old mice.

When they inhibited that protein in young mice, they replicated some of the age-related behavioral abnormalities of old mice that are thought to model age-related memory problems in humans.

They could reverse this effect by enhancing the expression of the same protein.

This certainly suggests a possible blueprint for a future drug treatment to reverse age-related memory loss. From my own medical practice with the over 40 age group, I can say this would be a popular and much sought after therapy should it ever come to fruition with acceptable side-effects.

On a related topic, Dr Kandel talked about the relationship between bone health and mental health. Osteoblasts in bone release a hormone called osteocalcin that is important for insulin secretion, testosterone production, energy expenditure, brown fat and insulin sensitivity.

It also boosts neurogenesis, serotonin and dopamine while decreasing GABA.

Injection of osteocalcin into the dentate gyrus enhances memory performance of both old and young mice. Given that aging is often associated with bone loss and therefore a decrease in the release of this hormone, it is possible this could contribute to age-related memory loss.

Exercise builds bone mass and this may explain some of the beneficial effects of exercise on cognition.

These findings are interesting. Let’s hope this story continues to evolve in a positive direction and we can all look forward to remembering our lives in our golden years, at least as long as we don’t get Alzheimer’s.

In the meantime, take lots of photos and label them carefully because some day these may be important in helping to retrieve those memories of places, people and events you just can’t retrieve without assistance.

And, of course, exercise regularly. It is good for your bones and your brain.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.