- Lower temperatures have been known to promote longevity in different species for a number of decades.
- The mechanism behind this has remained unclear, but recent research suggests low temperatures can induce a cellular process that improves the clearing of misfolded protein aggregations.
- Misfolded proteins are associated with some diseases of aging, including Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative conditions.
- The discovery of this mechanism could lead to a better understanding of how to treat human diseases caused by protein misfolding.
Lower temperatures have been known to increase longevity for over half a century, but the mechanisms underpinning this increased longevity have remained unclear.
Now, scientists have unraveled a mechanism that underpins increased longevity in worms, and shown it to have an effect on human cells.
Published in Nature Aging, a study by researchers based in Cologne, Germany has shown that at lower temperatures activity of a molecule responsible for breaking down protein aggregates is increased.
This activity could play a role in reducing the prevalence of harmful misfolded proteins, which are thought to play a role in the development of a number of conditions associated with aging, such as
A few decades ago it was believed that aging was due to the accumulation of toxins from oxidation. This changed in the 90s, when it was discovered that a genetic model organism, C. elegans—a type of worm—had increased longevity at lower temperatures, explained lead author of the study Professor David Vilchez, principal investigator at the CECAD Research Center, University of Cologne.
“We decided to focus on cold temperature because it was actually discovered [o]ver 50 years ago, even more, that cold temperature can prolong longevity […] So, that was discovered in flies, Drosophila, demonstrated in C. elegans, also fish, and most recently was also demonstrated in mice. So, it actually is one of the most…
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