Scientists seek to unravel secrets of 'superagers'

For most people, by the time they reach their 80th or 90th birthday, they find that their memory isn't as sharp as it was when they were a few decades younger.

But this isn't the case for everyone. As CRI's Li Yi explains, scientists are peeking into the brains of so-called "superagers" to uncover what makes them resistant to the effects of ageing.

Bill Gurolnick rides his bike near his home in Northbrook, Illinois, United States, on Feb. 20, 2018. Gurolnick, who turns 87 in March 2018, is participating in a study at Northwestern University that researchers hope will help them understand why some people in their 80s and 90s are able to keep the same sharp memory as someone 20 or 30 years younger. [Photo: AP/Teresa Crawford]

Bill Gurolnick will celebrate his 87th birthday next month.

Two years ago he joined a study looking at people whose memory function is significantly better than the average for other people their age. These are the so- called "superagers".

"Well, I don't feel my age. What do I feel like? If I was to give a number, I probably feel like I'm about my early 70s," said Bill.

Bill attributes his sharp memory to his active lifestyle and regular social engagements.

Having a good memory is not something that runs in Bill's family. His father developed Alzheimer disease when he was in his 50s. A person's genetic inheritance is believed to contribute about 70% of the risk for developing Alzheimer's.

Bill Gurolnick talks with his wife, Peggy Bartelstein, at their home in Northbrook, Illinois, United States, on Feb. 20, 2018. [Photo: AP/Teresa Crawford]

Neuroscientist Emily Rogalski leads the Super Aging study at Chicago's Northwestern University.

She believes her work can help fight or prevent Alzheimer's disease, a condition for which conventional medicine currently offers no effective treatment or cure.

"And we think if we can understand the factors contributing to superaging, it may offer new hypotheses and new ways to explore the challenges in Alzheimer's disease," said Emily.

Emily's team found that superagers tend to be extroverts with strong social networks, and that their brains shrink much more slowly than those of their peers.

Research shows that the brains of superagers contain a lot more of a special kind of nerve cell that is important for attention, and that parts of their brain are packed with neurons thought to improve social processing and awareness.

Neuroscientist Emily Rogalski is leading a study of "superagers," people in their 80s and 90s who have retained unusually sharp memory, in the hope of finding ways to protect others from memory loss. [Photo: AP/Teresa Crawford]

Scientists are currently exploring how the brains of superagers resist and repair damage.

Heather Snyder from the Alzheimer's Association says studying the brains of superagers can help unpick the cause and provide potential treatments for Alzheimer's and other types of dementia.

"By studying superagers, we can get information about what might be contributing factors of how our brains are structured, our social interactions, how our heart health feeds into our brain health and use that information for thinking about strategies for prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's and other dementias."

Emily says that the existence of superagers might help change negative attitudes towards ageing.

"Perhaps, if we expected a bit better from ourselves, then we would understand that not all aging is 'doom and gloom' and talking about things changing for the worse."