Lactates as an indicator of brain aging
Old age fills the brain with lactic acid salts
Nadezhda Markina, Infox.ruScientists have proposed a new way to assess how much the patient's brain has aged.
After all, the first signs of aging can be followed by Alzheimer's disease and other senile diseases. So far, the authors of the method have tested it on mice.
Researchers from the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm found that the level of lactic acid salts – lactates increases with age in brain tissue. They were able to measure lactate levels in normal and rapidly aging mutant mice using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy.
Scientists believe that the cause of age-related metabolic changes in the brain, which worsen its work, lies in the disruption of the mitochondria. With age, mutations accumulate in mitochondrial DNA that disrupt the work of respiratory chain enzymes. Biologists obtained a line of mutant mice with a large number of mitochondrial mutations (20-30 per DNA molecule) and made sure that these mice show signs of accelerated aging, they develop a complex of senile diseases. Mutants live only up to 46-48 weeks.
The study showed that mitochondrial dysfunction in mutant mice leads to a shift in metabolism: from aerobic respiration to anaerobic glycolysis. At the same time, the activity of genes encoding the enzyme lactate dehydrogenase changes. This enzyme ensures the production of lactate from pyruvate, so as a result, lactate accumulates in brain tissue. The same thing happens when the body is physically overloaded. The lactate content, although not as fast, also increases in the brains of normal mice as they age.
The method of proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy showed that in old mice the lactate content in the cortex and hippocampus of the brain is about twice as high as in young mice. And in mutant mice, already in their youth, it is three times higher than normal.
Scientists believe that lactate can be used as a marker of brain aging, and the spectroscopic method is a convenient non–invasive way to control its level.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru08.11.2010