No disease in the brain of a 115-year-old woman

den Dunnen, Wilfred F.A.; Brouwer, Wiebo H.; Bijlard, Eveline; Kamphuis, Jeanine; van Linschoten, Klaas; Eggens-Meijer, Ellie; Holstege, Gert

doi:10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2008.04.010

« Previous Next »Neurobiology of Aging
Volume 29, Issue 8 , Pages 1127-1132, August 2008

No disease in the brain of a 115-year-old woman

Wilfred F.A. den Dunnen
- Department of Pathology and Medical Biology, University Medical Centre Groningen, Hanzeplein 1, P.O. Box 30.001, 9700 RB Groningen, The Netherlands
Wiebo H. Brouwer
- Department of Neurology, University Medical Centre Groningen, Hanzeplein 1, P.O. Box 30.001, 9700 RB Groningen, The Netherlands
Eveline Bijlard
- Center for Uroneurology, University Medical Centre Groningen, Hanzeplein 1, P.O. Box 30.001, 9700 RB Groningen, The Netherlands
Jeanine Kamphuis
- Center for Uroneurology, University Medical Centre Groningen, Hanzeplein 1, P.O. Box 30.001, 9700 RB Groningen, The Netherlands
Klaas van Linschoten
- Department of Anatomy, University Medical Centre Groningen, Hanzeplein 1, P.O. Box 30.001, 9700 RB Groningen, The Netherlands
Ellie Eggens-Meijer
- Department of Anatomy, University Medical Centre Groningen, Hanzeplein 1, P.O. Box 30.001, 9700 RB Groningen, The Netherlands
Gert Holstege
- Center for Uroneurology, University Medical Centre Groningen, Hanzeplein 1, P.O. Box 30.001, 9700 RB Groningen, The Netherlands
- Corresponding author. Tel.: +31 50 363 2456; fax: +31 50 363 8214.

Received 10 April 2008; received in revised form 14 April 2008; accepted 15 April 2008. published online 06 June 2008.

Abstract

Are there limits to the duration of high quality of life? Are there limits to healthy life for a human brain? We have had the opportunity to evaluate the performance of a 112–113-year-old woman and perform full pathological examination of her body immediately after death at the age of 115. The psychological tests revealed that her general performance was above average of healthy adults of 60–75 years. The pathological observations revealed almost no atherosclerotic changes throughout the body. In the brain almost no beta-amyloid plaques or vascular changes were found and only slight accumulation of hyperphosphorylated tau protein with a Braak-stage 2. Counts of the number of locus coeruleus neurons corresponded with the number of neurons found in the brains of healthy people of 60–80 years old.

Our observations indicate that the limits of human cognitive function extends far beyond the range that is currently enjoyed by most individuals and that brain disease, even in supercentanarians, is not inevitable.

Keywords: Atherosclerosis, Supercentenarian, Neurodegeneration, Tau, Locus coeruleus