The World Authority For Unbiased Longevity News™️

Our Mission: SuperAging™
(n.) Using new medical science and biohacking to slow down the aging process, repair existing damage and live a dramatically longer life in peak physical and mental health.

Credit:

Scientists confirm major anti-aging biochemical pathway

March 27, 2020

Scientists have discovered a key anti-aging biochemical process that gives one species a significantly longer lifespan than another
The process known as mild depolarization regulates the formation of oxidative byproducts of cell respiration
Species that can maintain mild depolarization in the mitochondrial membrane until a high age live longer
Mild depolarization prevents the formation of mROS (mitochondrial reactive oxygen species) which are associated with various diseases and aging processes

Perhaps because it is inevitable, aging continues to fascinate humankind. Researchers around the world are studying why some species age differently compared to others. Interestingly, species that are apparently very similar to each other sometimes have very different aging patterns. A case in point is a rodent from East Africa called the naked mole-rat. Otherwise very similar to mice and moles, the naked mole-rat has a uniquely delayed aging process with a lifespan of about 30 years. The average lifespan of a house mouse, in comparison, is 9-12 months. Why does the house mouse have a much shorter lifespan than its African cousin? In an attempt to answer this and other aging-related questions, teams of scientists from Switzerland, Germany, and Russia have identified a key biochemical mechanism linked to senescence in mice, bats, and the long-living rodents called naked mole rats. They have identified a mechanism known as “mild depolarization” which controls the formation of mitochondrial reactive oxygen species. Called mROS for short, these are byproducts of respiration at the cellular level. The production of these molecules in mammals is important because it indicates oxidative damage and contributes to many pathologies. mROS production is linked to many diseases and aging-related processes. The outer and inner membranes of mitochondria control mROS production by different methods. Some enzymes reduce the electric charge of the inner membrane. In other words, a difference is created in the electric potential between the outer and inner membranes. This is called mild depolarization. It causes mROS production to stop. This, in turn, effectively slows down aging. “The proof of this effect is implying that mild depolarization is a mechanism of the anti-aging program, effectively slowing down aging processes in the cell,” says senior author Vladimir Skulachev of the Lomonosov Moscow State University. The scientists have shown that the biochemical mechanisms operate at different intensities in mice and naked mole rats. In mice, mild depolarization starts at about 12 months of age and is negligible by age 2 in many vital organs and tissues. On the other hand, in naked mole rats, mild depolarization is present up to approximately 20 years of age. “The crumbling of the anti-aging program in the cells starts after only a third of the average life span in mice, while the naked mole rats and Seba’s short-tailed bats maintain mild depolarization, and hence the suppression of mROS production, up to high ages,” explain co-authors Thomas Hildebrandt and Susanne Holtze from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW). “This contributes to the extraordinary longevity of these species.” The findings have demonstrated how biochemical mechanisms at the cellular level regulate anti-aging programs. The researchers now want to find out what activates and controls these processes. “The master biological clock has not yet been identified,” says lead author Mikhail Vyssokikh. “We suspect it to be located in the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus, which is responsible for the circadian and seasonal rhythms.” This and other questions will have to be answered by future studies on aging. The current findings were described in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

References:

Scientists confirm major anti-aging biochemical pathway

Share Your Thoughts Cancel reply