Abstract

Swathi Nalla58952* and Ganta Suhasin58953

Brain aging is a neurodegenerative disorder, whose prevalence has increased worldwide. According to World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines, dementia due to neurodegenerative disorder is 22%, i.e., ≥ 80 million people among the world’s population are affected by aging. According to a survey in 2010, 8% of the Indian population was affected by aging, which may reach 19% by 2050. Neurodegenerative damage contributes to persistent diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and stroke in the aging brain. Functional impairment in cognition is mainly due to the formation of Amyloid beta (Aβ) plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in the brain. The main causes of brain aging are the generation and accumulation of free radicals, i.e., Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) and Reactive Nitrogen Species (RNS), gene regulation, mitochondrial dysfunction, apoptosis, and telomere shortening. A recent approach to overcome aging is to identify novel biomarkers, such as urinary and molecular biomarkers.

In the present review, we emphasize different theories and biomarkers of ageing that lead to neurodegeneration, which helps in identifying the severity and progression of brain aging in healthy and diseased people. From this review, we learn about the long-term goal of identifying new therapeutic targets in drug discovery that can reduce the prevalence rate of neurodegeneration.