University of Virginia researcher Eyleen Jorgelina O’Rourke, PhD, and her team have been seeking to identify the mechanisms driving healthy aging and longevity.
CREDIT: Dan Addison | UVA Communications
University of Virginia scientists have identified a promising approach to delay aging by detoxifying the body of glycerol and glyceraldehyde, harmful by-products of fat that naturally accumulate over time.
The new findings come from UVA researcher Eyleen Jorgelina O’Rourke, PhD, and her team, who are seeking to identify the mechanisms driving healthy aging and longevity. Their new work suggests a potential way to do so by reducing glycerol and glyceraldehyde’s health-draining effects.
“The discovery was unexpected. We went after a very well-supported hypothesis that the secret to longevity was the activation of a cell-rejuvenating process named autophagy and ended up finding an unrecognized mechanism of health and lifespan extension,” said O’Rourke, of UVA’s Department of Biology and the UVA School of Medicine’s Department of Cell Biology. “An exciting aspect of the discovery is that the key to switch on this longevity mechanism is the activation of two enzymes that are very well studied because of their role in ethanol detoxification. [Ethanol is the alcohol contained in beer and bourbon]. This existing knowledge greatly facilitates our search for drugs that can specifically activate this anti-aging process.”
Anti-Aging Discovery
In their search for the secrets to slow down aging, O’Rourke and her graduate student Abbas Ghaddar and postdoc Vinod Mony turned to microscopic worms called C. elegans. These soil dwellers share more than 70% of our genes and are an invaluable tool for biomedical research; two Nobel prizes in medicine were awarded to discoveries made using this worm exclusively.
Prior aging research in worms, mice and human cells made O’Rourke and others in the field suspect that the key to extending lifespan was to activate autophagy, a process that renews broken and old parts in our cells. But O’Rourke and her collaborators were surprised to find that wasn’t necessary – the scientists improved the worms’ health and lifespan by 50% with no increase in autophagy at all.
They did this by capitalizing on a mechanism they discovered and named AMAR, the Sanskrit word for immortality. AMAR, in this instance, stands for “Alcohol and aldehyde-dehydrogenase Mediated Anti-aging Response.” In short, the scientists found that they could prompt an anti-aging response by putting the spurs to a particular gene, adh-1. Doing so prompted the gene to produce more of an enzyme, alcohol dehydrogenase, that prevented the toxicity caused by glycerol and, indirectly, glyceraldehyde. The result was that the worms lived longer, healthier lives.
Findings in lab models such as worms and mice don’t always hold true in people, of course. So the researchers took several more steps to see if their lead was as promising as it appeared. First, they confirmed that the enzyme had similar beneficial effects on lifespan in another lab model, yeast. Then they scoured through research looking at gene activity in creatures, including humans, who had undergone fasting or calorie restriction because both fasting and calorie restriction are known to extend healthspan and lifespan. Sure enough, the scientists found increased levels of the anti-aging enzymes in all the mammals tested, including in humans.
The scientists suspect that our levels of glycerol and glyceraldehyde naturally increase over time because they are toxic byproducts of fat, which we store more of as we age. Thus, AMAR may offer a way to head off the fat-derived toxicity, extend the number of years we live in good health, and maybe help us shed some extra pounds, too.
“We hope to attract interest in developing therapeutics that target AMAR,” said O’Rourke, who is part of UVA’s Robert M. Berne Cardiovascular Research Center. “With age-related diseases currently being the major health burden for patients, their families and the healthcare system, targeting the process of aging itself would be most effective way to reduce this burden and increase the number of years of independent healthy living for all of us.”
Original Article: Detoxing body of 2 fat by-products could extend lifespan, UVA researchers discover
More from: University of Virginia
The Latest Updates from Bing News
Go deeper with Bing News on:
Delaying aging
- After mass shooting that killed farmworkers, Gov. Newsom urges Half Moon Bay to stop delaying housing project
Some of the Half Moon Bay workers, and their families, appeared to be living in shipping containers that had been turned into homes.
- Can These New Hair Serums Actually Delay Grays?
Over 10 years later, we're still waiting for that pill, but we are now being offered new topical formulas that claim they can delay the arrival of gray hair—or even reverse it in its early stages. The ...
- Navigating aging and health with physical activity
Physical activity is important throughout our lives, but it's especially important as we get older, and our health needs evolve.Dr. Gordon Harkness, a medical d ...
- Flooding problems delay breathing new life into defunct city hydro-electric generators
The City of Columbus is spending more than $15 million to restart an aging pair of hydro-electric generators beneath O'Shaughnessy Dam near the Zoo.
- One woman’s journey with Alzheimer’s: How DU’s former chancellor is determined to delay the symptoms
Rebecca Chopp has done a lot. She was chancellor at the University of Denver and before that, at Swarthmore College and Colgate University. In 2019, Chopp stepped down as DU's chancellor after she was ...
Go deeper with Bing News on:
Anti-aging process
- How aging clocks tick: New study points to stochastic changes in cells
Aging clocks can measure the biological age of humans with high precision. Biological age can be influenced by environmental factors such as smoking or diet, thus deviating from chronological age that ...
- Anti-Aging Ingredient Market Transitions: Adapting to Regulatory Changes
Anti-Aging ingredients are used to slow down the aging process. These ingredients work as an agent against heredity factors. These ingredients contain a high amount of vitamin C, vitamin E, flavanols, ...
- Anti-Aging Expert’s Tips On Vagus Nerve Stimulation For Increased HRV Released
Anti-aging and wellness expert, and the “most measured man in human history”, Bryan Johnson, has shared some of his vagus nerve stimulation device tips in an exclusive video featured in Pulsetto’s ...
- Seragon Biosciences Pioneers a New Era in Anti-Aging with RESTORIN
Given this state of affairs, a sophisticated, multi-pronged solution is necessary. “Many single-ingredient products only address a single aspect of the aging process,” Brown says. “RESTORIN is ...
- My friends made fun of me & called me an old lady for my anti-aging routine – who’s laughing now, Jennifer, it worked
A SKINCARE fan has shared their anti-aging routine that worked. Though their friends made fun of them for their thorough skincare steps, they said they had the last laugh. Redditor ...