Changes in oxygen supply to neurons may have a role in the ageing of the brain, according to a new study.
A team from Lancaster University, UK and the University Medical Centre in Ljubljana, Slovenia, examined brain activity and its oxygen supply.
They used a brain monitoring technique called functional near-infrared spectroscopy together with electroencephalogram to view brain activity, and an electrocardiogram heart test.
Two groups of participants were recruited, a younger group of 21 people aged around 31 years, and an older group of 24 participants aged around 65 years.
Tests showed lower coherence between neural and oxygenation oscillations in the older adults.
This means that the rhythms of oxygenation, brain electrical activity, respiration and electric heart activity were less well-coordinated with advancing age.
Findings “indicate that neurovascular interactions change with age”, the authors write in Brain Research Bulletin recently.
They add that this approach, which has never been done before, “promises a noninvasive means of evaluating the efficiency of the neurovascular unit in ageing and disease”.
Researcher Professor Aneta Stefanovska said: “The approach could thus be used for non-invasive evaluation of the decline of neurovascular function in normal ageing, as well as for monitoring the efficacy of treatment or lifestyle changes in a wide range of neurodegenerative disorders.
“The results promise a relatively simple and non-invasive method for assessing the state of the brain in healthy ageing, and in neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease.”
Bjerkan, J. et al. Aging affects the phase coherence between spontaneous oscillations in brain oxygenation and neural activity. Brain Research Bulletin 25 July 2023 doi: 10.1016/j.brainresbull.2023.110704
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