In 1890 a small and weak premature girl namedHendrikje van Andel-Schipperto which the doctors gave little life expectancy. No one could imagine that, more than a century later, “Hennie” would go down in history as one of the longest-lived women in the world by reaching115 year old with iron health.
Before passing away in 2005, while he was sleeping, van Andel had already reached an agreement to donate his body to science. Thanks to this decision, Dutch scientists from the Groningen Medical Center have been able to study in depthyour brainand check that there wasno sign of Alzheimer’s or any other type of dementia. The details of the autopsy are published in the latest issue of the magazineNeurobiology of Aging.
“Preventing the brain deterioration that accompanies aging can be very beneficial”, concludes in the article Dr. Pert Holstege, who assures that this study shows thatAlzheimer’s is preventable, even in centennial individuals. Holstege also studied van Andel’s brain functions in life, when the patient was 112 and 113 years old. The results were absolutely normal, with no signs of dementia or memory or attention problems. In fact, according to Holstege, van Andel’s mental abilities were equivalent to those obtained by the majority of adults between 60 and 75 years of age.
After his death, the researchers found that his brain not only did not present any abnormality but also had the same number of neurons as individuals fifty years younger. Now that the average life expectancy grows and that the number of centenarians is increasing, explains Holstege, Hennie’s brain offers us good news: the deterioration of brain functions can be prevented. Finding out how to do it is now the main challenge for scientists.
