Because HD is age related, understanding how we age and what slows aging are important to treating HD. Old incorrect ideas about our brains are being replaced with new ideas that give hope for HD treatment. Our brains are not rigid like blocks of concrete. Our brains are plastic and ever changing.

The researchers of the following study seek to find drugs to slow down brain aging. On the HDL we know that diet, exercise and spirituality will slow down brain aging. Some may not want to wait for medications that seek to mimic the benefits of the HDL Triad. --Jerry 15-May-2001
Veterans Affairs 15-May-01

New Study Challenges "Stable" Adult Brain Concept


From: Disection of a Human Brain.
On a cool CD Rom from Brain University.
Little Rock, Ark. -- Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) researchers found that the brain, long considered to be essentially stable in humans after 20 years of age, continues to develop into the late 40's. The findings are reported in the May 2001 issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.

Dr. George Bartzokis, associate chief of staff for Mental Health at VA's Central Arkansas Veterans Health Care System, and colleagues measured the brain's gray and white matter components of 70 normal, adult males, ages 19-76.

The MRI measurements provided compelling evidence that in adolescence, gray matter in the brain declines in a linear fashion until old age, while conversely, white matter in the frontal parts of the brain continues to increase until the late 40's and then declines.

"Our findings suggest that the timeline for attaining maximal brain development as well as the beginning of degeneration is moved to the late 40's and that, biologically speaking, the societal concept of a stable/unchanging "adult" brain may not be valid," said Dr. Bartzokis, who is also associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Arkansas.

The onset of psychiatric as well as degenerative brain disease is highly age-related and understanding how the structures of the brain develop and degenerate over the entire life-span is important in gaining a better understanding of many brain diseases such as schizophrenia, addiction to drugs, and Alzheimer's disease.

Since both the developmental and degenerative changes can be measured in living individuals, such brain imaging methods can be used to identify what factors interfere with development or promote degeneration of the brain. Therefore, the methods can also be used to find out what medications can foster brain development or prevent degeneration.

In addition to Bartzokis, other authors of the paper include: Mace Beckson, M.D., Po H. Lu, M.A., Keith H. Nuechterlein, Ph.D., Nancy Edwards, M.A., and Jim Mintz, Ph.D. This study was supported by the Research and Psychiatry Services of the Department of Veterans Affairs, the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression, the National Institute on Mental Health, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and the Marie Wilson Howells Endowment.