Functional Neurobiology of Aging

Some well-known age-related neurological diseases include Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, deafness, and blindness. Even more common are the problems of aging which are not due to disease but to more subtle impairments in neurobiological systems, including impairments in vision, memory loss, muscle weakening, and loss of reproductive functions, changes in body weight, and sleeplessness. As the average age of our society increases, diseases of aging continue to become more common, and conditions associated with aging need more attention by doctors and researchers. In 1991, patients over the age of 65 saw their doctors an average of eight times per year. Research funding is provided by the Neuroscience and Neuropsychology of Aging (NNA) Program, which is run by the National Institute on Aging. This book offers a comprehensive overview of all topics related to functional impairments which are related to the aging brain and nervous system. It is organized according to four general functions: movement, senses, memory, and neuroendocrine regulation. Written by the leading researchers in the field, this comprehensive work addresses both impairments associated with diseases and not associated with diseases, making it easier to understand the mechanisms involved. Functional Neurobiology of Aging is an important reference for professionals and students involved in aging research, as well as physicians who need to recognize and understand age-related impairments.

• Organized by function, making it easy to find and understand the material
• Addresses impairments both associated with diseases and not associated with diseases
• Written by leading researchers in the field
• Most comprehensive source of information on the neurobiology of aging

Dr. Hof is the Irving and Dorothy Regenstreif Research Professor of Neuroscience and the Vice-Chair of the Department of Neuroscience at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. He also leads the Center of Excellence on Brain Aging of the Friedman Brain Institute. His laboratory has extensive expertise in the pathology of neuropsychiatric disorders and has established an international reputation in quantitative approaches to neuroanatomy and studies of brain evolution.

Dr. Hof earned his MD from the University of Geneva, School of Medicine in Switzerland. He came to the USA as a postgraduate fellow at the Research Institute of Scripps Clinic, La Jolla, CA. In 1989 he came to Mount Sinai School of Medicine as a Senior Research Associate and joined the Faculty there in 1990. He is also a Professor of Geriatrics and Ophthalmology at Mount Sinai.

Dr. Hof's research is directed towards the study of selective neuronal vulnerability in dementing illnesses and aging using classical neuropathologic as well as modern quantitative morphologic methods to determine the cellular features that render the human brain uniquely vulnerable to degenerative disorders. Dr. Hof also conducts analyses of the distribution and connectivity patterns of pyramidal neuron subpopulations in the macaque monkey cerebral cortex in young and very old animals to study possible age-related changes in the neurochemical characteristics of the neurons of origin of corticocortical projections. He develops stereologic, high-resolution morphometric, and imaging tools for the quantitative study of neuroanatomical specimens and brain atlas development. Among his major contributions, Dr. Hof demonstrated that specific neurons are selectively vulnerable in dementing disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease. He has made contributions to quantifying the differences between normal aging brains and Alzheimer’s disease, as well as other mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and autism. Dr. Hof is also the curator of a mammalian brain collection that includes a large series of great ape specimens, as well as an extensive sample of marine mammals. He has contributed considerably to our understanding of the structure of the cetacean brain and has identified, in select mammalian brains, specific neuronal types in parts of the cerebral cortex known to be involved in social awareness, judgment, and attention, that can be considered as markers of adaptive mechanisms and functions in response to particular ecological pressures.