ブックタイトル東北大学　アニュアルレビュー2015(英語版)

概要

東北大学　アニュアルレビュー2015(英語版)

Ryuta KawashimaResearch HighlightA caricature of Kawashima featuresin the best-selling Nintendo game Brain Age.c 2005 NintendoBrain Training Turns Back Your Cognitive ClockRyuta Kawashima at Tohoku University’s Smart Aging International Research Center showshow simple mental exercises can reverse the effects of aging and dementia.Ryuta Kawashima was sceptical when his researchassociate came to him with the results from their studyinto whether the effects of aging on the brain could bereversed. The neuroscientist at Tohoku University wasso surprised by the outcome that he thought his colleaguewas joking.The results, however, were real. They revealedthat the effects of brain aging could be undone andKawashima knew immediately that they would challengewidely held beliefs about aging and dementia.But the scientist is no stranger to controversy. Hisearlier brain mapping studies challenged the assertionthat playing video games could boost a child’s cognitiveabilities when he discovered that solving simple mathsproblems used more brain power.His latest study will probably have a more profoundimpact, and may ultimately change the way wemanage the treatment of aging populations.Neuroscientist Ryuta Kawashima studies how regular reading and writingexercises can reverse the effects of aging on the brain.Mind gamesAnyone who has blamed their inability to recall aname on advancing age will find Kawashima’s resultscounterintuitive. Cognitive functions involving the frontsection of the brain, the prefrontal cortex, typically beginto decline from the age of 20. This area of the brainis involved in functions such as memory, imitation andreasoning. Deterioration is more pronounced in peoplewith dementia.Kawashima wanted to see if he could curb the declineusing two simple brain exercises: reading out loudand basic arithmetic. These tasks require working memory,which stores and processes temporary informationand cognitive speed. They are also known to activatethe prefrontal cortex.To test his hypothesis, Kawashima asked elderlypatients with Alzheimer’s ? a form of dementia ? at anursing home in the southwestern island of Kyushu, toperform the exercises regularly over six months, as fastas they could. Kawashima then assessed their cognitiveabilities using a series of tests designed to measurefrontal lobe activity, the region of the brain that housesthe prefrontal cortex.“We would have been happy to see their cognitivefunctions maintained,”says Kawashima.“Instead wesaw them improve.”Patients whose cognitive abilities had been measuredalong with the test subjects before the exercisesbegan, but who did not receive the‘learning therapy’,had a slight decrease in their scores.Families and nursing staff observed other improvementsin the patients who had participated in the study.Many could communicate better and some went frombeing bedridden to sitting in a wheelchair or walking.Some showed improvement in controlling their bowelmovements.Three months into the therapy, many patients appearedhappier and more willing to try new things. Oneof Kawashima’s most astonishing cases was of an octogenarianwho was thought to be in a coma-like state.She started the therapy by following Japanese characterswith her eyes, and went on to sit up and speak.Smart agingNone of these stories surprise Kawashima anymore.He has spent the last 20 years trying to convincegovernments, researchers and the public of the benefitsof learning therapy.His team at Tohoku University’s Smart AgingInternational Research Center has conducted numerousbrain training studies on adults of all ages. Usingmagnetic resonance imaging, they have found evidenceof neural changes in the brain known as brain plasticity,following training.Kawashima has spent the last 20 yearstrying to convince governments,researchers and the public of the benefits of learning therapy.The team is now trying to identify the molecularmechanisms underlying these changes in rats. Theyexpect they will be linked to epigenetics ? changes ingene expression that do not involve altering the underlyingcode.Researchers at the center are also looking at howexercise, nutrition and social activities help to maintaina healthy aging population. They found that combiningbrain training and exercise had little success in elderlyindividuals:“While concentrating on the brain, theirlegs stopped, and while concentrating on the bike, theirhands stopped.”In 2005, Kawashima published the bestsellingbook, Train Your Brain. The head of video game companyNintendo then approached him about developingthe game Brain Age, which sold 19 million copies worldwide.Three weeks before its release, software engineersat Nintendo showed Kawashima the digitized caricaturethey had secretly created of him to feature in the gameThe brain training exercises work by activating a region of the brain known asthe prefrontal cortex.? much to his children’s embarrassment. Kawashima’sresearch has received global media attention, and waseven recently featured in the BBC series Horizons.At a cost of less than USD 200 per patient a year,around 15,000 dementia patients across Japan uselearning therapy to read and calculate for just a fewminutes a day. Around 20 nursing homes in the UnitedStates have also signed up to the program. But withnearly 5 million people with dementia in Japan and 44million worldwide, Kawashima says the uptake is notenough.“To maintain such a superaged society, weneed elderly people to be healthy.”Dr. Ryuta Kawashima is director of the Institute ofDevelopment, Aging and Cancer.Tohoku University ANNUAL REVIEW 2015page: 18Tohoku University ANNUAL REVIEW 2015page: 19