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Researchers identified a gene that seems to help slow brain aging in women, and studied links between hormone therapy, menopause and Alzheimer’s.
Women’s brains are superior to men’s in at least in one respect — they age more slowly. And now, a group of researchers reports that they have found a gene in mice that rejuvenates female brains.
Humans have the same gene. The discovery suggests a possible way to help both women and men avoid cognitive declines in advanced age.
The study was published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances. The journal also published two other studies on women’s brains, one on the effect of hormone therapy on the brain and another on how age at the onset of menopause shapes the risk of getting Alzheimer’s disease.
A gene that slows brain aging
The evidence that women’s brains age more slowly than men’s do seemed compelling.
Researchers, looking at the way the brain uses blood sugar, had already found that the brains of aging women are years younger, in metabolic terms, than the brains of aging men.
Other scientists, examining markings on DNA, found that female brains are a year or so younger than male brains.
And careful cognitive studies of healthy older people found that women had better memories and cognitive function than men of the same age.