Mount Sinai Research Reveals Age-Related Changes in Brain's Circadian Rhythms and Molecular Phases
Research conducted by Mount Sinai scientists, as part of the PsychAD Consortium, has unveiled significant age-related changes in the brain's circadian biology and molecular composition. A study published in Nature, which analyzed over 1.3 million brain cells from 284 neurotypical donors ranging from infancy to age 97, identified three distinct molecular phases across the human lifespan. These phases include rapid cellular remodeling during early development, a period of relative stability through middle adulthood, and a wave of molecular changes beginning around age 60, primarily driven by glial support cells. A key finding indicates that in young and middle-aged adults, neurons exhibit tightly coordinated 24-hour rhythms governed by core circadian clock genes. However, after age 60, these neuronal rhythms largely disappear, while the brain's immune cells acquire new rhythmic activity associated with cellular stress and inflammation. The study also pinpointed age 24 as an inflection point after which the b...
