Figure 2.

Oxidative stress and epigenetic changes in the cognitive aging process. Aging and neurodegenerative diseases are associated with cognitive, emotional, and social deficiencies mostly linked to brain alterations. Aging is characterized by a state of genomic instability, telomere attrition, epigenetic alterations, loss of proteostasis, mitochondrial dysfunction, cellular senescence, deregulated nutrient sensing, stem cell exhaustion, and altered intercellular communication. In this context, oxidative stress and epigenetic modifications play a major role, both as perpetrators and consequences of aging processes. Oxidative stress and ROS increase cause DNA and macromolecule damage associated with mitochondrial dysfunction, inflammation reaction, apoptosis, and epigenetic modifications. Epigenetic changes are associated with DNA hypomethylation, promoter hypermethylation, and altered histone modification due to various mechanisms (including oxidative stress). In this context, antioxidants may play a major role in preventing cognitive aging problems. ROS—reactive oxygen species.