scholarly journals No evidence of physiological declines with age in an extremely long-lived fish

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Derek J. Sauer ◽  
Britt J. Heidinger ◽  
Jeffrey D. Kittilson ◽  
Alec R. Lackmann ◽  
Mark E. Clark

AbstractAlthough the pace of senescence varies considerably, the physiological systems that contribute to different patterns of senescence are not well understood, especially in long-lived vertebrates. Long-lived bony fish (i.e., Class Osteichthyes) are a particularly useful model for studies of senescence because they can readily be aged and exhibit some of the longest lifespans among vertebrates. In this study we examined the potential relationship between age and multiple physiological systems including: stress levels, immune function, and telomere length in individuals ranging in age from 2 to 99 years old in bigmouth buffalo (Ictiobus cyprinellus), the oldest known freshwater teleost fish. Contrary to expectation, we did not find any evidence for age-related declines in these physiological systems. Instead, older fish appeared to be less stressed and had greater immunity than younger fish, suggesting age-related improvements rather than declines in these systems. There was no significant effect of age on telomeres, but individuals that may be more stressed had shorter telomeres. Taken together, these findings suggest that bigmouth buffalo exhibit negligible senescence in multiple physiological systems despite living for nearly a century.

2008 ◽  
Vol 32 (12) ◽  
pp. 1409-1415 ◽  
Author(s):  
Madhu P. Katepalli ◽  
Amanda A. Adams ◽  
Teri L. Lear ◽  
David W. Horohov

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron L. Slusher ◽  
Tiffany M. Zúñiga ◽  
Edmund O. Acevedo

Age-related elevations in proinflammatory cytokines, known as inflamm-aging, are associated with shorter immune cell telomere lengths. Purpose. This study examined the relationship of plasma PTX3 concentrations, a biomarker of appropriate immune function, with telomere length in 15 middle-aged (40-64 years) and 15 young adults (20-31 years). In addition, PBMCs were isolated from middle-aged and young adults to examine their capacity to express a key mechanistic component of telomere length maintenance, human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT), following ex vivo cellular stimulation. Methods. Plasma PTX3 and inflammatory cytokines (i.e., IL-6, IL-10, TGF-β, and TNF-α), PBMC telomere lengths, and PBMC hTERT gene expression and inflammatory protein secretion following exposure to LPS, PTX3, and PTX3+LPS were measured. Results. Aging was accompanied by the accumulation of centrally located visceral adipose tissue, without changes in body weight and BMI, and alterations in the systemic inflammatory milieu (decreased plasma PTX3 and TGF-β; increased TNF-α (p≤0.050)). In addition, shorter telomere lengths in middle-aged compared to young adults (p=0.011) were negatively associated with age, body fat percentages, and plasma TNF-α (r=−0.404, p=0.027; r=−0.427, p=0.019; and r=−0.323, p=0.041, respectively). Finally, the capacity of PBMCs to increase hTERT gene expression following ex vivo stimulation was impaired in middle-aged compared to young adults (p=0.033) and negatively associated with telomere lengths (r=0.353, p=0.028). Conclusions. Proinflammation and the impaired hTERT gene expression capacity of PBMCs may contribute to age-related telomere attrition and disease.


Genes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 475
Author(s):  
Maria Santa Rocca ◽  
Ludovica Dusi ◽  
Andrea Di Nisio ◽  
Erminia Alviggi ◽  
Benedetta Iussig ◽  
...  

Telomeres are considered to be an internal biological clock, and their progressive shortening has been associated with the risk of age-related diseases and reproductive alterations. Over recent years, an increasing number of studies have focused on the association between telomere length and fertility, identifying sperm telomere length (STL) as a novel biomarker of male fertility. Although typically considered to be repeated DNA sequences, telomeres have recently been shown to also include a long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) known as TERRA (telomeric repeat-containing RNAs). Interestingly, males with idiopathic infertility show reduced testicular TERRA expression, suggesting a link between TERRA and male fertility. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of seminal TERRA expression in embryo quality. To this end, STL and TERRA expression were quantified by Real Time qPCR in the semen of 35 men who underwent assisted reproductive technologies (ART) and 30 fertile men. We found that TERRA expression in semen and STL was reduced in patients that underwent ART (both p < 0.001). Interestingly, TERRA and STL expressions were positively correlated (p = 0.010), and TERRA expression was positively associated with embryo quality (p < 0.001). These preliminary findings suggest a role for TERRA in the maintenance of sperm telomere integrity during gametogenesis, and for the first time, TERRA expression was found as a predictive factor for embryo quality in the setting of assisted reproduction.


Biology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 253
Author(s):  
Graciela Gavia-García ◽  
Juana Rosado-Pérez ◽  
Taide Laurita Arista-Ugalde ◽  
Itzen Aguiñiga-Sánchez ◽  
Edelmiro Santiago-Osorio ◽  
...  

A great amount of scientific evidence supports that Oxidative Stress (OxS) can contribute to telomeric attrition and also plays an important role in the development of certain age-related diseases, among them the metabolic syndrome (MetS), which is characterised by clinical and biochemical alterations such as obesity, dyslipidaemia, arterial hypertension, hyperglycaemia, and insulin resistance, all of which are considered as risk factors for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and cardiovascular diseases, which are associated in turn with an increase of OxS. In this sense, we review scientific evidence that supports the association between OxS with telomere length (TL) dynamics and the relationship with MetS components in aging. It was analysed whether each MetS component affects the telomere length separately or if they all affect it together. Likewise, this review provides a summary of the structure and function of telomeres and telomerase, the mechanisms of telomeric DNA repair, how telomere length may influence the fate of cells or be linked to inflammation and the development of age-related diseases, and finally, how the lifestyles can affect telomere length.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Manjot Kaur Grewal ◽  
Shruti Chandra ◽  
Alan Bird ◽  
Glen Jeffery ◽  
Sobha Sivaprasad

AbstractTo evaluate the effect of aging, intra- and intersession repeatability and regional scotopic sensitivities in healthy and age-related macular degeneration (AMD) eyes. Intra- and intersession agreement and effect of age was measured in healthy individuals. The mean sensitivity (MS) and pointwise retinal sensitivities (PWS) within the central 24° with 505 nm (cyan) and 625 nm (red) stimuli were evaluated in 50 individuals (11 healthy and 39 AMD eyes). The overall intra- and intersession had excellent reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient, ICC > 0.90) and tests were highly correlated (Spearman rs = 0.75–0.86). Eyes with subretinal drusenoid deposit (SDD) had reduced PWS centrally, particularly at inferior and nasal retinal locations compared with controls and intermediate AMD (iAMD) without SDD. There was no difference in MS or PWS at any retinal location between iAMD without SDD and healthy individuals nor between iAMD with SDD and non-foveal atrophic AMD groups. Eyes with SDD have reduced rod function compared to iAMD without SDD and healthy eyes, but similar to eyes with non-foveal atrophy. Our results highlight rod dysfunction is not directly correlated with drusen load and SDD location.


2015 ◽  
Vol 113 (7) ◽  
pp. 2127-2136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chia-Cheng Lin ◽  
Susan L. Whitney ◽  
Patrick J. Loughlin ◽  
Joseph M. Furman ◽  
Mark S. Redfern ◽  
...  

Vibrotactile feedback (VTF) has been shown to improve balance performance in healthy people and people with vestibular disorders in a single-task experimental condition. It is unclear how age-related changes in balance affect the ability to use VTF and if there are different attentional requirements for old and young adults when using VTF. Twenty younger and 20 older subjects participated in this two-visit study to examine the effect of age, VTF, sensory condition, cognitive task, duration of time, and visit on postural and cognitive performance. Postural performance outcome measures included root mean square of center of pressure (COP) and trunk tilt, and cognitive performance was assessed using the reaction time (RT) from an auditory choice RT task. The results showed that compared with younger adults, older adults had an increase in COP in fixed platform conditions when using VTF, although they were able to reduce COP during sway-referenced platform conditions. Older adults also did not benefit fully from using VTF in their first session. The RTs for the secondary cognitive tasks increased significantly while using the VTF in both younger and older adults. Older adults had a larger increase compared with younger adults, suggesting that greater attentional demands were required in older adults when using VTF information. Future training protocols for VTF should take into consideration the effect of aging.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lilit Nersisyan ◽  
◽  
Maria Nikoghosyan ◽  
Arsen Arakelyan

AbstractTelomere length (TL) regulation is an important factor in ageing, reproduction and cancer development. Genetic, hereditary and environmental factors regulating TL are currently widely investigated, however, their relative contribution to TL variability is still understudied. We have used whole genome sequencing data of 250 family trios from the Genome of the Netherlands project to perform computational measurement of TL and a series of regression and genome-wide association analyses to reveal TL inheritance patterns and associated genetic factors. Our results confirm that TL is a largely heritable trait, primarily with mother’s, and, to a lesser extent, with father’s TL having the strongest influence on the offspring. In this cohort, mother’s, but not father’s age at conception was positively linked to offspring TL. Age-related TL attrition of 40 bp/year had relatively small influence on TL variability. Finally, we have identified TL-associated variations in ribonuclease reductase catalytic subunit M1 (RRM1 gene), which is known to regulate telomere maintenance in yeast. We also highlight the importance of multivariate approach and the limitations of existing tools for the analysis of TL as a polygenic heritable quantitative trait.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document