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Scientists at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) may have discovered a cause of aging in the brain .

The culprit is a protein called ferritin light chain 1 (FTL1), described as an iron-associated protein identified as a "pro-aging neuronal factor that impairs cognition."

The study, published in the journal Nature Aging, compared how genes and proteins in the hippocampus – the region of the brain responsible for learning and memory – changed over time in old and young mice.

WHAT PEOPLE WHO LIVE TO 100 YEARS OLD HAVE IN COMMON, ACCORDING TO SCIENCE

Aged mice had a higher amount of FTL1, as well as fewer brain cell connections in the hippocampus and diminished cognitive abilities , according to a UCSF press

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