Abstract: At present, many subjects, such as psychology, biology, sociology, etc, focus their attention on cognitive aging. From the point of view of biology, this paper mainly discussed the relation between the mitochondrion and cognitive aging. The mitochondrion as an important cell organ acts on the cognitive aging in many aspects, such as quantity, distribution, energy supply, Ca2+ concentrations, nerve cell apoptosis, and mitochondrial gene. When mitochondrial functions are abnormal in the aging course, the cognitive function may be influenced by the negative effects. These investigations may offer useful evidences for understanding the cognitive aging mechanism deeply.

Key words: mitochondrion, cognitive aging, Ca2+, nerve cell apoptosis, mitochondrial gene