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.

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 release.

When FTL1 was artificially increased in young mice, their brains began to mimic the brains and behaviors of old mice.

When the pro

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