Suppressing a protein impaired memory in middle-aged mice
A genetic experiment found cognitive impairment in mice aged 10–12 months, but not 3–6 months, after suppressing a protein in forebrain nerve cells.
Limit: Memory was inferred from platform-search time; other water-maze measures did not differ
Edited by Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
Researchers studied male and female mice aged 3–6 or 10–12 months in a genetic experiment. They suppressed p27, a protein that helps control cell division, in forebrain nerve cells after development. They compared mutant mice with control littermates using object-recognition and water-maze tasks.
Young mice showed no overall cognitive impairment. At 10–12 months, mice with both gene copies targeted took longer than controls to reach a hidden platform’s former location after researchers removed it. Learning during training and time spent in the platform’s former quarter of the pool did not differ. Imaging also found more immature dendritic spines—small projections on nerve cells that receive signals—in these middle-aged mutants than in controls.
Why it matters
The authors suggest that p27 helps maintain connections between nerve cells during aging, contributing to the preservation of memory and thinking.
Caveats
This was a genetic experiment in mice, not a treatment study in people. The impairment appeared in one water-maze measure; recognition-memory results showed only a trend, and other water-maze measures did not differ.
The paper
Suppression of neuronal p27 impairs cognitive function in middle-aged mice
Wake Forest University Health Sciences
Neurobiology of Disease, May 9, 2026, Open access
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