SCIENTISTS MAY have discovered a way to slow the ageing process and extend life span. The US research is the first to conclusively show how a process inside cells has a direct role in how fast we age.
Scientists have known for decades that if you eat less you will live longer.
It works in many species from spiders to monkeys and some people are voluntarily reducing calorie intake by 25 per cent in the hope of extending life. How reducing calories achieves this has remained a complete mystery until now.
Scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Tokyo have discovered a biochemical substance in cells known as Sirt3.
They found there is a direct connection between Sirt3 and the anti-ageing effects seen with low calorie intake.
It represented “the first clear evidence that [Sirt3] have anti-ageing effects in mammals”, Dr John Denu said.
He and colleagues at University of Wisconsin-Madison, including Dr Tomas Prolla, publish their findings this morning in the journal Cell .
Anti-ageing pill
The research helps explain the sequence of events inside the body that contribute to ageing. More importantly, it also provides a direct target for drug treatments that might slow ageing and contribute to better health in old age.
The scientists followed the Sirt3 pathway inside the cell and discovered it works on structures that act like power plants to deliver energy to help the cell do its job.
Like all power plants these structures also release a kind of pollution known as “free radicals”, forms of oxygen that cause damage and promote the effects of ageing.
The researchers showed that Sirt3 acts on the energy structures to reduce the free radicals, and so reduce damage.
Keeping calorie levels low causes the cell to make more Sirt3 and so improve the clearance of free radicals.
“This study is the first direct proof for a mechanism underlying the anti-ageing effects we observe under caloric restriction,” Dr Prolla said. They showed how the approach could work using mice that develop age-related hearing loss, much the same as in humans. Their hearing loss was prevented by reducing food intake.
The scientists also used cell cultures to show how Sirt3 could protect against cell stress and death caused by free radicals.
The goal now will be to find a drug that can boost Sirt3 production as a way to slow ageing.
The findings raise the prospect of adding years to the average human life span.
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Scientists are a step closer to creating an anti-ageing drug, after they discovered a key anti-ageing enzyme that stops our cells from decaying.
It has long been known that reducing calorie intake can dramatically slow the process of ageing and improve health in later life.
Now researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison have identified a key enzyme called Sirt3, which causes this dramatic effect in cell molecules.
Lead scientist Professor Tomas Prolla said: ‘We’re getting closer and closer to a good understanding of how caloric restriction works.
‘This study is the first direct proof for a mechanism underlying the anti-aging effects we observe under caloric restriction.’
The finding not only helps explain the cascade of events that contributes to ageing, but also provides a basis for devising drugs that could extend the average life span.
The team studied mice with age-related hearing loss, which is linked to free radical damage to the cells in the inner ear.
They focused on the mitochondria – structures inside cells that produce energy and are the sources of highly reactive forms of oxygen known as free radicals, which damage cells and promote the effects of aging.
The researchers found under reduced-calorie conditions, levels of Sirt3 increased altering metabolism and resulting in fewer free radicals produced by mitochondria.
Signs of free radical damage are skin that is leathery, or wrinkled and sagging, and stiffness in the joints.
Smoking, sunbathing, fried food, infections and stress can all produce excess free radicals. However, green leafy vegetables and whole grain bread contain antioxidants that can neutralise them.
Professor Prolla said: ‘This is the strongest and most direct link that caloric restriction acts through mitochondria.’
Sirt3 is one of seven enzymes in the sirtuin family that appear to have a wide-ranging impact on cell fate and physiology.
However, the new study published in the journal Cell, provides ‘the first clear evidence that sirtuins have anti-aging effects in mammals.’
Understanding the molecular basis of how the sirtuin enzymes work may ultimately lead to the development of drugs that activate the pathways of enzymes like Sirt3 to slow down the process of ageing.