Scientists delay aging process by remote control

The global anti-aging market is projected to be

worth USD 191.7 billion by 2019. This shows that

people are willing to pay anything to remain young

– no wrinkles, greys, arthritis, rheumatism etc. It

is no wonder then that scientists have been working

to find a way of stopping or at least delaying the

aging process.

*Activating a gene called AMPK in the nervous
system induces the anti-aging cellular recycling
process of autophagy in the brain and intestine.
Source: sciencedaily.com
Late last year, scientists at the University of
California, Los Angeles (UCLA) recorded a
breakthrough as they identified a gene that can
slow the aging process in the entire body when
activated remotely in key organ systems such as
the liver, brain and skeletal muscle.
Experimenting with fruit flies (Drosophila
melanogaster), the scientists activated a gene
called AMPK (‘ Adenosine Monophosphate-activated
Protein Kinase), a key energy sensor in cells which
gets activated when cellular energy levels are low.
By increasing the amount of AMPK in the
intestines of fruit flies, they discovered their
lifespans increased by about 30 per cent (from the
typical six weeks to eight weeks) and the flies
stayed healthier for a longer period as well.
According to David Walker, Associate Professor of
Integrative Biology and Physiology at UCLA and
senior author of the research, the research
reported in the open-source journal, Cell Reports,
could have important implications for delaying
aging and disease in humans.
Said Walker: “We have shown that when we activate
the gene in the intestine or the nervous system,
we see the aging process is slowed beyond the
organ system in which the gene is activated.”
He noted that the findings are important because
extending the healthy life of humans would
presumably require protecting many of the body’s
organ systems from the ravages of aging—but
delivering anti-aging treatments to the brain or
other key organs could prove technically difficult.
The study suggests that activating AMPK in a more
accessible organ such as the intestine, for example,
could ultimately slow the aging process throughout
the entire body, including the brain.
“Humans have AMPK, but it is usually not activated
at a high level. Instead of studying the diseases of
aging—Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, cancer, stroke,
cardiovascular disease and diabetes—one by one, we
believe it may be possible to intervene in the aging
process and delay the onset of many of these
diseases,” he said.
“We are not there yet, and it could, of course,
take many years, but that is our goal and we think
it is realistic. “The ultimate aim of our research is
to promote healthy aging in people.” The fruit fly
is a good model for studying aging in humans
because scientists have identified all of the fruit
fly’s genes and know how to switch individual genes
on and off. The biologists studied about 100,000
fruit flies in the course of the study.
Lead author, Matthew Ulgherait, who conducted
the research as a doctoral student, focused on a
cellular process called autophagy, which enables
cells to degrade and discard old, damaged cellular
components. By getting rid of that “cellular
garbage” before it damages cells, autophagy
protects against aging, and AMPK has been shown
previously to activate this process. Ulgherait
studied whether activating AMPK in the flies led to
autophagy occurring at a greater rate than usual.
“A really interesting finding was when Matt
activated AMPK in the nervous system, he saw
evidence of increased levels of autophagy in not
only the brain, but also in the intestine,” said
Walker. And also, activating AMPK in the intestine
produced increased levels of autophagy in the brain
—and perhaps elsewhere, too.”
Walker noted that many neurodegenerative
diseases, including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, are
associated with the accumulation of protein
aggregates, a type of cellular garbage, in the
brain. “Matt moved beyond correlation and
established causality,” he said. “He showed that
the activation of autophagy was both necessary to
see the anti-aging effects and sufficient; that he
could bypass AMPK and directly target autophagy.”
Walker said that AMPK is thought to be a key
target of metformin, a drug used to treat Type 2
diabetes, and that metformin activates AMPK. The
research, funded by National Institutes of Health’s
National Institute on Aging and other agencies, has
as co-authors Anil Rana, a post-doctoral scholar in
Walker’s lab; Michael Rera, a former UCLA post-
doctoral scholar in Walker’s lab; and Jacqueline
Graniel, who participated in the research as a
UCLA undergraduate.