Study DNA methylation changes in brain aging and rapamycin treatment

描述（由申请人提供）：年龄是神经认知能力下降和痴呆的主要风险因素。预防和治疗与年龄相关的大脑疾病将需要阐明正常大脑衰老的过程和机制，并制定针对这些机制的干预措施。该项目基于雷帕霉素通过纠正大脑中与年龄相关的异常DNA甲基化调节来延缓大脑衰老的假设。该项目在用雷帕霉素治疗的老年小鼠中与对照组相比测试了这一假设的一个独特预测：随着年龄的变化，雷帕霉素将延缓DNA甲基化和DNA甲基化调节基因对大脑中突触和认知功能的重要性。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Age is the major risk factor for neurocognitive decline and dementia. Preventing and treating age-associated brain disorders will require elucidating the processes and mechanisms underlying normal brain aging and developing interventions that target such mechanisms. This project is based on the hypothesis that rapamycin retards brain aging by correcting age- associated aberrant DNA methylation regulation in the brain. The project tests one unique prediction of this hypothesis in aged mice treated with rapamycin compared with controls: Changes with age will be retarded by rapamycin in DNA methylations and the DNA methylation regulated genes important to synaptic and cognitive function in brain.