Older brain cells linger unexpectedly before their death

For oligodendrocytes—the central nervous system cells critical for brain function—age may not bring wisdom, but it does come with the power to cling to life for much, much longer than scientists knew. That’s according to a new study featured on the March 27 cover of the Journal of Neuroscience.

Mature oligodendrocytes took a shocking 45 days to die following a fatal trauma that killed younger cells within the expected 24 hours, Dartmouth researchers report. The findings suggest there’s...