Bridging the Gap: A Geroscience Primer for Neuroscientists With Potential Collaborative Applications

Abstract

While neurodegenerative diseases can strike at any age, the majority of afflicted individuals are diagnosed at older ages. Due to the important impact of age in disease diagnosis, the field of neuroscience could greatly benefit from the many of the theories and ideas from the biology of aging-now commonly referred as geroscience. As discussed in our complementary perspective on the topic, there is often a "silo-ing" between geroscientists who work on understanding the mechanisms underlying aging and neuroscientists who are studying neurodegenerative diseases. While there have been some strong collaborations between the biology of aging and neuroscientists, there is still great potential for enhanced collaborative effort between the 2 fields. To this end, here, we review the state of the geroscience field, discuss how neuroscience could benefit from thinking from a geroscience perspective, and close with a brief discussion on some of the "missing links" between geroscience and neuroscience and how to remedy them. Notably, we have a corresponding, concurrent review from the neuroscience perspective. Our overall goal is to "bridge the gap" between geroscience and neuroscience such that more efficient, reproducible research with translational potential can be conducted.

Keywords: Cognitive decline; Frailty; Life-span–extending interventions; Resilience.

Figure 1.

Framework of how geroscience experimental design and execution can be applied to the neurosciences. The ideal model organism for the question is chosen, and interventions are applied. Changes in the hallmarks of aging lead to improvements in cognition and decreases in neuropathology. ALS = amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; CVD = cerebrovascular disease; MCI = mild cognitive impairment.