Fluid biomarkers unveil signatures of pathological aging

Abstract

Aging is a multifaceted and highly varied process in the brain. Identifying aging biomarkers is one means of distinguishing pathological from physiological aging. The aim of this narrative review is to focus on two new developments in the field of fluid biomarkers and draw attention to this excellent tool for the early detection of potential brain pathologies that delay, alter, or enable physiological aging to become pathological. Pathological aging can lower the threshold for the development of specific diseases such as late-onset epilepsy. Fluid biomarkers can reveal pathological levels at an early stage and thus indicate disease processes in the brain that begin before symptoms develop; they thus differ from physiological aging.