The switch of aging
Russian scientists have discovered a mechanism that stops aging
Scientists from Moscow State University together with colleagues from Germany and Switzerland have discovered a special mechanism in the mitochondria of animal cells that prevents aging. The results of experiments demonstrating this discovery are published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Vyssokikh et al., Mild depolarization of the inner mitochondrial membrane is a crucial component of an anti-aging program).
A study conducted by scientists from Moscow State University under the leadership of Academician Vladimir Skulachev in cooperation with several foreign and Russian laboratories showed that in the mitochondria of cells of most tissues of the mammalian body there is a special mechanism that prevents the production of ROS – reactive oxygen species.
Mitochondria are intracellular organelles that provide the cell with energy. They produce adenosine triphosphate (ATP), a universal source of energy for all biochemical processes occurring in living systems. In parallel, ROS are formed as a product of normal oxygen metabolism. In fact, these are toxic substances, the strongest oxidants, increased concentrations of which lead to so-called oxidative stress. With age, the production of ROS increases, and this factor has long been associated with the aging process, since ROS produced by mitochondria damage proteins, lipids, and mutations in DNA.
The authors report in the article about the discovery in the mitochondria of experimental animals – mice, bats and naked diggers – of a mechanism that provides a controlled decrease in the electrical potential – depolarization on the mitochondrial membrane to a level sufficient for the formation of ATP, but insufficient for the generation of ROS.
With age, this protective mechanism turns off, which triggers the aging process associated with chronic poisoning with reactive oxygen species. Interestingly, in mice, the depolarization mechanism stops working, starting from the second year of life, while in long-lived bats and practically ageless naked diggers, it continues to work and protect mitochondria for many years.
The authors of the work suggest that the mechanism of depolarization of the inner mitochondrial membrane discovered by them is a kind of anti–aging program, the function of which is to restrain the process of age-related weakening of the body until a certain time, after which biological aging is fully triggered.
"The fact of an increase in oxidative damage and an increase in ROS production in tissues with age is well known," the words of the first author of the article, head of the laboratory of molecular mechanisms of aging Mikhail Vysokykh, are quoted in a press release from Moscow State University. – Some scientists associate it with purely random, stochastic damage, but our scientific group has always held a different point of view. According to our hypothesis, such a time-coordinated increase in ROS production during aging must be somehow programmed in the body. The mechanism discovered in our work corresponds to our prediction: the shutdown of the protective system occurring in the "middle" age leads precisely to an increase in the production of ROS by mitochondria."
Currently, the authors are developing approaches to prevent the shutdown of this protective program, which would significantly slow down the aging process.
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