GDF11 and age: Indeed, in response to targeted deletion of GDF11 in the post-mitotic EN of cingulate gyrus in the prefrontal cortex, one of the brain regions in which accelerated EN senescence was induced by loss of GDF11 in the EN shown in this work and which is preferentially associated with age-dependent cognitive impairment shown previously4, our whole-cell patch clamp recording showed that the cortical EN with loss of GDF11 in the young mouse brain exhibited hyperexcitability and imbalance between excitation and inhibition, manifesting a functional signature of the aged cortical neurons7,11.