Research paper that for the first time maps the genetics of how individual regions of the brain age —and why some of those regions are the very ones most ravaged by Alzheimer’s and dementia

>By analyzing MRI scans from 41,708 adults in the UK Biobank, a large British health database, the researchers divided the brain into 148 distinct regions and measured the aging rate of each one separately. They then scanned each participant’s DNA, testing more than 600,000 genetic variants, and identified which variants were linked to accelerated aging in which regions. The result: 1,212 significant genetic associations, a detailed genetic map of how and where the brain grows old.
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>**Genes That Age the Brain and Genes That Protect It**
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>The study identified both factors that speed up aging and those that protect against it. One gene in particular, KCNK2, which controls potassium channels that help regulate electrical signaling between neurons, was strongly associated with faster aging in brain regions that are especially vulnerable in Alzheimer’s disease.
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>On the other hand, variants in a gene called NUAK1, which helps maintain the structural skeleton of brain cells, were associated with a younger-appearing brain across wide areas of the cortex

> One of the study’s most significant findings is that the regions of the brain that age fastest correspond closely to the regions most devastated by Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia.

[Deep neural networks and genome-wide associations reveal the polygenic architecture of local brain aging | GeroScience | Springer Nature Link](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11357-025-02046-1)