Fight Aging!

Calorie restriction is demonstrated to slow the progression of neurodegenerative disease in numerous species, but picking out specific relevant mechanisms from the sweeping changes in cellular behavior that occur as a result of a lower calorie intake has proven to be a challenge. The scientists involved in the research noted here focus on just one, relating to dysfunction of calcium metabolism in neurons. As might be imagined, this is the tiniest slice of the complete picture of calorie restriction and health, considered at the cellular level. A full accounting of exactly how calorie restriction works to improve health and delay aging remains to be created. It is a job of staggering size, one that must proceed in parallel with the equally large task of producing a comprehensive map of metabolism and how it changes with age. It seems plausible that researchers will still be working on this well after the first suite of rejuvenation therapies after the SENS vision are a going concern. It is fortunate that the faster and more effective approach to treating aging described in the SENS proposals exists: if it didn't, our prospects for longer, healthier lives would be far worse.

Studies of different animal species suggest a link between eating less and living longer, but the molecular mechanisms by which caloric restriction affords protection against disease and extends longevity are not well understood. The results of new in vitro and in vivo experiments include the finding that a 40% reduction in dietary caloric intake increases mitochondrial calcium retention in situations where intracellular calcium levels are pathologically high. In the brain, this can help avoid the death of neurons that is associated with Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, epilepsy and stroke, among other neurodegenerative conditions. Calcium participates in the process of communication between neurons. However, Alzheimer's disease and other neurological disorders can cause an excessive influx of calcium ions into brain cells due to overactivation of neuronal glutamate receptors. This condition, known as excitotoxicity, can damage and even kill neurons.

To verify the effect of caloric restriction on excitotoxicity, scientists compared two groups of mice and rats. The control animals were given food and water ad libitum for 14 weeks and were overweight at the end of the experiment. The other group received a 40% caloric restriction (CR) diet for the same period. In the first test, the animals were injected with kainic acid, a glutamate analogue with a similar effect in terms of inducing neuronal calcium influx, albeit more persistent. In rodents, it can cause brain damage, seizures and neuronal cell death due to overactivation of glutamate receptors in the hippocampus. It is used in the laboratory to mimic epilepsy. "We administered a small dose to avoid killing the animal. Even so, kainic acid caused seizures in the control group. It had no effect on the CR group."

The next step was to see what happened when the mitochondria isolated from each group were treated with cyclosporin, a drug known to increase calcium retention. While calcium uptake did indeed increase in the mitochondria from the control group, it remained unchanged in the CR group, eliminating the difference observed in the previous test. "Cyclosporin's target in mitochondria is well known. The drug inhibits the action of a protein called cyclophilin D, leading to increased mitochondrial calcium retention." In this case, however, cyclophilin D levels were found to be the same in both groups. The researchers therefore decided to measure the levels of other proteins that might be interfering with cyclophilin D's action in the organism. "We discovered that caloric restriction induces an increase in levels of a protein called SIRT3, which is capable of modifying the structure of cyclophilin D. It removes an acetyl group from the molecule in a process known as deacetylation, and this inhibits cyclophilin D, so that the mitochondria retain more calcium and become insensitive to cyclosporin." Just as other research groups had already found, the team also observed an increase in the activity of antioxidant enzymes such as glutathione peroxidase, glutathione reductase and superoxide dismutase in the CR rodents' mitochondria. These results suggest an enhanced capacity to manage cerebral oxidative stress, a condition that contributes to the onset of several degenerative diseases.

Link: https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-10/fda-crc101916.php