Studies Show the Human Brain Shrinks With Age, Unlike Chimps' Brains

Chimpanzees are our closest living relatives. Many medical researchers will study the anatomy and behaviour of chimps to gain insight on how the human body functions. Recent studies published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences have shown that the human brain shrinks with age, while a chimp's brain size remains constant throughout its life.

It has been determined that animals will experience some degree of brain atrophy throughout their lives, but since humans have larger brains and longer life spans, it is only natural that the human brain exhibit more wear and tear over the course of a lifetime.

This new study, the first of its kind, used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to compare the brains of 99 adult chimpanzees aged 10 to 51, with the brains of 87 adult humans aged 22 to 88. The researchers found that the mass and structure of the chimpanzee brains did not change, but the human brains showed visible declines in overall brain structure. Since humans are now living longer than they ever have, the shrinking mass is thought to be a result of these longer life spans. The one area of the brain of particular interest is the hippocampus, which houses the ability to generate new memories and help with spatial navigation. It is in this area where Alzheimer's disease is thought to occur, the disease that causes people to experience memory impairment due to the loss of structure and function, as well as the death of the brain's neurons. Unlike humans, chimpanzees don't get the disease because their brains do not shrink or change in any pronounced ways over the course of their lives.

The important conclusion of this study illustrates the fact that humans, however healthfully we live our lives, are not immune to losing brain mass and function as we age. This important research is an important step to gaining more understanding about how the human brain ages as compared to our close relatives, and what we can do to lessen its effects on our memory and cognitive functions.

To read more about the Human Brain Shrinks With Age study, click Here.

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