Recently, a team of scientists working together from Arizona State University and the Norwegian University of Life Sciences published results indicating that bees could be capable of reversing the effects of aging on the brain. The results were published in the journal Experimental Gerontology, and they indicate that the molecular structure of the bees’ brains are altered when they return to the nest and perform certain tasks.
It is already known that when bees live solely in the nest and spend their time caring for the larvae, the bees remain mentally young and competent for as long as they are observed. This has been demonstrated in previous research. Contrarily, when the bees leave the nest to perform other tasks such as gathering nectar for food, their aging speeds up significantly, and within only two weeks have marked signs of intense aging. This includes worn wings, hairless bodies, and, most importantly, they lose some brain function. This loss of brain function is usually measured by their ability to learn and master new tasks.
To investigate this effect, the researchers were interested in the question of what would happen if the foraging bees changed tasks to again live in the nest and take care of larvae. The bees were forced to change roles to perform because the researchers removed all of the younger bees from the nest, and left only the queen and the babies. After a period of inactivity, the bees redistributed roles, with some of the previously aged bees returning to foraging, and some staying to care for the larvae. The results they found were intriguing: within ten days of forcing the bees to change tasks and returning to live in the nest (a role typically filled by young bees), half of the previously aged bees now caring for larvae had significantly improved their brain function, by improving their ability to learn new things.
When the bees that had shown improvement were compared to the bees that were not, an obvious change in brain proteins was observed. In the recovered bees, they found an increased amount of protein Prx6. This protein is known in humans to protect against age-related dementia as well as diseases such as Alzheimer’s. A second protein discovered to be in higher rates is one that protects other proteins from being damaged when brain tissues are exposed to cellular stress.
The mechanism of this rejuvenation of the bee’s mental capability is unknown, other than the fact that nest and larvae care responsibilities are typically performed by younger bees. The researchers have said that this proof suggests that cures for age-related dementia should involve a social intervention aspect, and not simply involve new drug treatments. This phenomenon observed in bees holds potential for humans, because the observed proteins are the same as those that exist in humans. These findings show that it may be possible for the proteins to spontaneously respond to social situations, leading the researchers to wonder if simply changing how we deal with our surroundings as we age is something we can do to help our brains stay younger.
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