Menin restoration improves older-mouse memory in 30 days

Researchers led by Lige Leng of Xiamen University reported in PLOS Biology, recirculated by ScienceDaily on Oct. 12, that restoring Menin in 20-month-old mice improved aging markers within 30 days.

Evidence grade: Early (small, animal, cell or preprint). The finding matters because it links a brain protein in the hypothalamus to body-wide aging measures in mice, while D-serine improved learning and memory over three weeks without restoring bone mass or skin thickness.

Menin is a protein involved in regulating gene activity and restraining inflammation. The hypothalamus is a small brain region that helps control temperature, hunger, metabolism, sleep and hormone production.

The researchers reported that Menin levels declined in certain hypothalamic neurons as mice aged. The same decrease was not observed in astrocytes or microglia, two other brain-cell types involved in neural support and immune activity.

To test whether the decline was more than a marker of aging, the team used genetically modified mice in which Menin could be selectively disabled. Mice with reduced Menin activity had more hypothalamic inflammation, thinner skin, lower bone mass, weaker cognitive performance and modestly shorter lifespans, according to the ScienceDaily account of the PLOS Biology study.

The researchers then used a gene-delivery method to raise Menin production in the ventromedial hypothalamus, a hypothalamic region involved in metabolism and energy balance, in older mice. After 30 days, the animals showed thicker skin, higher bone mass, better performance on learning, memory and balance tests, and lower inflammation measures.

A second part of the work focused on D-serine, an amino acid involved in brain signaling through NMDA receptors, proteins important for communication between nerve cells. When Menin fell, D-serine concentrations also declined, and restoring Menin increased D-serine levels in the hippocampus, a brain region central to learning and memory.

Older mice given D-serine in drinking water for three weeks performed better on learning and memory tests. The effect was narrower than Menin restoration: D-serine mainly affected cognition and did not restore the age-related reductions in skin thickness or bone mass reported in the experiment.

The study cannot show that Menin restoration or D-serine would slow aging or improve memory in people. The ScienceDaily account did not give the number of mice used in the Menin experiments, and it did not report funding or conflict-of-interest details.

A 2016 randomized clinical trial in 50 healthy older adults found better performance on one spatial learning and problem-solving assessment after D-serine, but not significant gains across other cognitive or mood tests.

Later findings also complicate the picture. An April 2025 study in mice engineered to develop features of Alzheimer’s disease found that early increases in D-serine accompanied disrupted brain signaling, and removing the enzyme that produces D-serine prevented or reduced later cognitive impairment in those mice.

Other mouse and cell studies cited by ScienceDaily point in the same broad direction: the hypothalamus appears to influence aging-related biology across the body. That does not make Menin a master switch; the supplied research describes several interacting pathways, including inflammation, brain signaling, biological rhythms and muscle-to-brain communication.

For ordinary readers, the practical meaning is narrow. The evidence supports further research into Menin and D-serine biology, but it does not establish D-serine supplementation as a strategy for age-related memory loss in humans.

Source: ScienceDaily Health news article citing PLOS Biology, Oct. 12.

Atlas360 reports health research and does not provide medical advice.