We speculate that our brains can compensate for up to a 60 percent loss of pre-Boetzinger cells, but the cumulative deficit of these brain cells eventually disrupts our breathing during sleep. There's no biological reason for the body to maintain these cells beyond the average lifespan, and so they do not replenish as we age,
Quotes about pre-boetzinger (2 Quotes)
Our research suggests that the pre-Boetzinger complex contains a fixed number of neurons that we lose as we age.