老化认知神经科学:研究现状与未来展望

Cognitive neuroscience of aging:present research status and future prospect

人口老龄化已经成为我国乃至全球面临的一个严峻的社会问题.开展老化认知神经科学研究,从认知、脑结构和脑功能层面揭示脑老化的机制和规律,进而探索并开发出延缓认知下降的方法和工具,对保持老年脑健康及提升生活质量具有重要意义.本文从脑结构老化、脑功能老化以及脑血流量与脑老化等方面概述了认知老化的神经机制.前人从补偿和去分化角度构建了多个认知老化理论和假说,然而,这些理论和假说较少考虑到脑结构老化、静息态研究及脑血流量的研究发现.坚持规律的运动、多做一些认知参与的活动、保持健康的生活方式和饮食模式,有助于老年人保持认知功能并延缓认知与脑老化.在老化认知神经科学未来发展方向上,从认知老化理论的发展以及成人毕生发展视角,对脑老化的脑功能网络研究、脑老化与可塑性以及基因对脑老化的影响等方面进行了展望.最后,本文从建立中国成人毕生发展行为-基因-脑数据库、使用和研发新技术研究认知老化、深入探索有效的脑功能改善方法、开展农村老年人研究及临床老年群体研究等方面,对国内老化认知神经科学的发展趋势进行了展望.

Population aging has become a serious social problem for China and the world.Researchers have focused on the study of cognitive neuroscience in aging,revealing the underlying mechanisms and laws of brain aging from cognition,brain structure and brain function,exploring and developing effective intervention approaches and tools to delay cognitive decline.It is of great significance to maintain the brain health and improve quality of life.In this manuscript,we overviewed the neural mechanisms of cognitive aging according to the evidence of brain structure aging,brain function aging,cerebral blood flow and brain aging.Multiple cognitive aging theories and hypotheses have been constructed from the perspective of compensation and dedifferentiation,however,these theories and hypotheses take less account of findings from studies on brain structure aging,resting-state neuroimaging as well as brain blood flow.Adhering to regular exercise,engaging in more cognitive activities and maintaining a healthy lifestyle and diet pattern could help older adults improve cognitive function and delay cognitive decline.We predicted the future directions of cognitive neuroscience of aging from development of cognitive aging theory,studies on cognitive aging from the perspective of lifespan development,functional networks of aging brain and brain plasticity,and the effect of gene on brain aging.Finally,we discussed the future prospect focusing on the construction of the behavior-gene-brain database of adult lifespan development in China,using and developing new techniques to study cognitive aging and explore effective brain function improvement training methods,and conducting studies on rural older adults and clinical older populations.