new study reveals the physiological basis of age-related memory decline and potential means to restore it.
The tight regulation of gene expression in space and time is key to understanding how the complexity and variation within and between organisms can arise from a relatively simple DNA blueprint. Until now, few studies had been able to characterize the temporal dynamics of gene transcription in the human brain with the depth reported in two recent papers published in Nature.
A cell's ability to adjust its rate of glycolysis relative to oxidative metabolism allows it to adapt to changes in nutrient availability and energy demands. Targeting such shifts could be therapeutically useful in diseases like cancer, in which tumour cells rely more heavily on glycolysis, or in ischaemia and stroke, in which there is an increase in mitochondrial respiration as oxygen availability becomes limited.
