The following is an excerpt.
Scientists have long known that DNA damage occurs in every cell, accumulating as we age. But a particular type of DNA damage, known as a double-strand break, or DSB, has long been considered a major force behind age-related illnesses such as Alzheimer’s. Today [24 March 2013], researchers in the laboratory of Gladstone Senior Investigator Lennart Mucke, MD, report in Nature Neuroscience that DSBs in neuronal cells in the brain can also be part of normal brain functions such as learning — as long as the DSBs are tightly controlled and repaired in good time. Further, the accumulation of the amyloid-beta protein in the brain — widely thought to be a major cause of Alzheimer’s disease — increases the number of neurons with DSBs and delays their repair.
View the original article here: DNA Damage Occurs as Part of Normal Brain Activity, Scientists Discover
