Shocking! Researchers find new brain cells in elderly humans

In a new study, researchers have found that humans produce new neurons in a part of their brain which is mostly involved learning, memory and emotion throughout their adulthood. The new finding has helped in developing treatments for neurological conditions such as dementia.

We all know that new neurons are generated in the hippocampus in babies, but it was a controversary whether the same takes place in adulthood and if it does, does the rate drops gradually with age.

A research had found that new neurons in the hippocampus of older humans, a new study revealed that new neurons in the hippocampus were at undetectable levels by our late teens.

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A new study gives an opposite opinion, revealing the new neurons are produced in this brain region in human adults and does not drop off with age. The new findings could help in treating Alzheimer’s and various other psychiatric problems.

Dr Maura Boldrini from Columbia University in New York said, The exciting part is that the neurons are there throughout a lifetime. “It seems that indeed humans are different from mice – where [neuron production] goes down with age really fast – and this could mean that we need these neurons for our complex learning abilities and cognitive behavioural responses to emotions."

The researchers looked at the hippocampus in 28 men and women aged between 14 and 79, just after they passed away. All the people were healthy before they died, unlike in many previous studies.

The team of researchers examined the degree of new blood vessel formation, the volume, and the number of cells of different stages of maturity, in an area known as the dentate gyrus – the region of the hippocampus where new neurons are produced.

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