Effects of Aging on the Nervous System

Lipofuscin

Accumulates (these are fatty cells)

Brain

Brain decreases in size and weight

Neurotransmitters/chemoreceptors

Decline

Peripheral nerves

Decline. Not as sensitive to hot/cold, so increased risk for injuryu.

Neuroendocrine changes

Increased glucocorticoids leading to depression and DM2

Working memory

Longer retrieval time for short term memory, categorization, and episodic memory.

Cranial Nerve 1

Loss of smell so changes in taste and smell which affects appetite

Achilles reflex

May be absent

Vertebral bodies

Narrowing. Result in chronic back pain, numbness and tingling in extremities

After age 30:

Neurons decrease in number, neuroglial cells increase in size and number, axon thinning and decrease in number, dendrites decrease in number.

Neurons

Undergo senescence