Figure 1.

Brain-related aging mechanisms. Aging and neurodegenerative diseases are associated with cognitive, emotional, and social deficiencies mostly linked to brain alterations. Aging of the brain differs from other organs aging, as neurons are highly differentiated postmitotic cells, so that their lifespan is mostly equal to the lifespan of the entire organism. Brain aging is complex and heterogeneous but it substantially involves four levels of involvement: molecular and cellular, vasculature, gross morphology, and cognition. (1) Cellular and molecular changes involve especially (but not only) calcium-altered homeostasis, leading to hormone and neurotransmission changes, as well as ROS production, energy metabolism alteration, and neuroinflammation, which lead to progressive DNA and macromolecules damage, mitochondrial dysfunction, inflammation reaction, apoptosis, and epigenetic modifications; (2) vascular alterations and related disorders are very common and one of the leading causes of neurological disorders, morbidity, and mortality in older patients, manifesting its influence both systemically and on the more specific brain context; (3) with age come modifications of brain structure, with the frontal and pre-frontal lobes more influenced and occipital ones less affected; (4) cellular and molecular changes, but also vascular alterations and brain morphology modifications, are associated to functional impairment, which manifests mainly with memory loss and slight cognitive impairment but can lead to major pathological diseases such as dementia. In this context, antioxidants may play a major role in preventing cognitive aging problems. ROS—reactive oxygen species. Images have been created by using the functionalities of Microsoft PowerPoint 365 Version 2112. https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-365 (accessed on 30 November 2022). Used with permission from Microsoft.