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Does CR shrink the brain?

 
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A1CR
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Joined: 18 Jan 2006
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 15, 2006 6:23 am    Post subject: Does CR shrink the brain? Reply with quote
A concern among some practicing CR or CRON is the long-term impact it may have on cognitive performance -- a characteristic difficult to model accurately in rodents, the typical organism of choice for CR experiments.

This study [1] by well-known CR researchers Lane, Mattison and Ingram measured the size of several brain regions in primates subjected to long-term CR. It found that CR may "shrink" certain structures in the brain.

Probably not a cause for concern. There is quite a bit of evidence on to prove just the opposite -- that CR *preserves* cognitive health in animals and humans (e.g. increased calorie intake is associated with increased rates of Alzheimer's disease).

[1] Neurobiol Aging. 2004 Feb;25(2):193-200

Age-related decline in striatal volume in rhesus monkeys: assessment of
long-term calorie restriction.

Matochik JA, Chefer SI, Lane MA, Roth GS, Mattison JA, London ED, Ingram DK.

Quote:
Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), we measured striatal volume in 22
male rhesus monkeys undergoing calorie restriction (CR) for 11-13 years and
38 monkeys who were fed ad libitum (CON). CR delays the onset of many
age-related processes, and this study tested whether it would alter the
age-related decline in striatal volume. The CON and CR groups were
sub-divided into middle age (less than 24 years old) and old age groups.
Contrary to expectation, volumes of the putamen (not the caudate nucleus)
were larger bilaterally in the CON than in the CR group both at middle age
and senescence. Regression analysis (region volume versus age) indicated
bilateral age-related declines in putamen and caudate nucleus volumes in the
old CON monkeys, but only for the putamen in the old CR monkeys. Because
tests for slopes found no differences between the groups, the data do not
establish an effect of CR. Further study, involving sequential imaging, is
warranted in order to clarify the possible effects of CR on age-related
changes in striatal volume.

PMID: 14749137
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