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Physiology

Inflammation links ageing to the brain

Nature volume 497, pages 197–198 (2013)Cite this article

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Inflammation-activated signalling pathways in the brain's hypothalamus control the production of ageing-related hormones. This finding provides a link between inflammation, stress responses and systemic ageing. See Article p.211

One of the least-understood aspects of ageing is its coordinated and stereotyped progression in all organ systems. Although researchers have long suspected that the brain orchestrates systemic ageing, compelling evidence of this in mammals has been lacking. Furthermore, we have had no clear understanding of how ageing is affected by inflammation, which is a hallmark of age-related diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, arthritis and Alzheimer's disease. In this issue, Zhang et al.1 (page 211) help to make this connection by documenting the integration of inflammatory responses with systemic control of ageing by the hypothalamus — a part of the brain that controls growth, reproduction and metabolismFootnote 1.

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Figure 1: Hypothalamic inflammation and control of systemic ageing.

Notes

  1. *This article and the paper under discussion were published online on 1 May 2013.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dana Gabuzda is in the Department of Neurology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.,

    Dana Gabuzda

  2. Bruce A. Yankner is in the Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School.,

    Bruce A. Yankner

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  1. Dana Gabuzda
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  2. Bruce A. Yankner
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Correspondence to Dana Gabuzda or Bruce A. Yankner.

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Gabuzda, D., Yankner, B. Inflammation links ageing to the brain. Nature 497, 197–198 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12100

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