Author: Tang Yi Zhe, title figure from: Vision China
Aging is the inevitable fate of living things. The decline in metabolic levels, the decline of various functions, and the eventual death, no one can escape the laws of nature. As the most intelligent creature in nature, humans are ambitiously trying to penetrate the secrets of this power, thereby escaping the fate of aging, or at least delaying the process of aging.
However, human beings who have broken countless natural restrictions are still at a disadvantage in this confrontation with aging. After studying thousands of species, it unveiled the tip of the iceberg of “aging”, but there are still many gratifying progress. The significance of these advances is that they are not just simple “longevity”, but also a big step for human beings to overcome major diseases such as cancer and cancer.
What substances are controlling the aging of living things? Why are elephants not getting tumors, and naked moles will never wrinkle? Is the “anti-free radical” product on the market a pseudo-science or is it really effective? Tang Yuzhe said that there are many factors that cause aging, and the most widely known factor is free radicals. These active molecules are produced all the time, and between your breath, a lot of free radicals are produced in the body. Although free radicals do cause aging to some extent, they also play an important role in physiological metabolism. Experiments have shown that artificial elimination of free radicals will not only prolong life but also cause health damage. Genes are also important factors in determining aging.
The tumor suppressor gene p53 makes elephants almost tumor-free, while nude mice with special genes have amazing repairing abilities and smooth, newborn skin from birth to death. Through gene editing technology, we have been able to effectively extend the life of model animals. Whether this technology is applicable to humans is still at an unknown stage.
A large number of difficult diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease and cardiovascular disease, are closely related to aging. Intervention in aging is also a treatment for these diseases. This is of great significance to China, which is about to face an aging society. Finally, Tang Yuzhe shared his team’s significant progress in the principles of aging: the hypothalamus is the “command” of human aging, leading the aging process of systemic cells. Intervention in the hypothalamus can interfere with the aging process of systemic cells.
The following is a selection of words by Tang Yuzhe’s speech:
Low free radical level = longevity?
There are many theories about aging, the most famous of which may be called “free radical aging theory.”
Free radicals are some of the oxidative active molecules normally produced in cell activities. These active molecules are produced all the time. During your breath, a lot of free radicals are produced in the body. Free radicals are produced faster and faster if they are smoking, or when exposed to radiation or exposed to ultraviolet light.
Free radical aging theory
But there are two aspects in it that cannot be explained by theory. One aspect is that researchers use modern biological methods to remove or inhibit most of the free radicals in animals, and found that the aging of these animals has not been delayed, but their health is impaired.
Free radicals play an important role in the normal metabolism of cells, or organisms, or in biochemical processes. It is indispensable. So if you still see some anti-free radicals, anti-oxidative stress drugs or skin care products on the market, everyone should keep their eyes open and watch for IQ tax.
An important aspect is that the life span and size of species in the world are ever-changing and diverse, ranging from hours of sputum to large giants that last for hundreds of years.Turtles, but researchers have not found them in their bodies, their free radicals have similar such changes, on the contrary, some higher levels of free radical species have a longer life.
An elephant without a tumor and a naked mole
People recognize that genetics determines aging and begins with comparative biology. Comparative biology is a discipline in which the same types of traits of different species are put together for comparison. We found that the larger the species, the longer it will last. At the same time, because people already know that body size is closely related to metabolism, everyone began to explore whether life expectancy and aging are related to some genes related to metabolism. The result is really true.
Researchers have discovered that some genes that metabolize and determine body size are indeed a process that determines aging. Gradually, researchers have explored dozens or even hundreds of aging-related genes from these discoveries. These genes are usually closely related to the normal physiological and biochemical functions of the cells. For example, some are responsible for the communication between the cells and the outside world, some are responsible for sensing the surrounding energy levels, and some are responsible for the damage repair.
I want to talk about two special examples here, one is the naked mole that I just mentioned. The naked mole mouse has a bad living environment and no vision, but found that its body expresses high quality, high molecular weight hyaluronic acid, which is the hyaluronic acid that we like to see, so its skin is from birth to end of life, from beginning to end as young as it is. smooth. In addition, its damage repair ability is particularly strong, so naked moles will not get some aging-related diseases from beginning to end, such as cancer, tumors or other metabolic diseases.
Naked Mole Life
Another example is an elephant, which can live for 50 to 80 years, and the elephant is almost tumor free. Researchers have discovered a special tumor suppressor gene called p53. This tumor suppressor gene may also be a copy in our humans (Note: copy number refers to the number of genes in a certain organism’s genome) ), but there are 20 copies in the elephant.
life elephant
Of course, the reasons I just mentioned may be the tip of the iceberg of animal longevity secrets, and there are many unknown theories that we need to discover.
Do gene editing make people live longer?
Of course, we can’tIt has been studied in two long-lived animals such as naked mole and elephant, so most of the genes related to aging are still found in model animals.
Researchers can change the lifespan of these three different species by a factor of five to five, 50% by modern genetic editing methods that alter one or two genes in S. elegans, Drosophila, and mice. Double, or 20% to 50%.
Gene determined lifespan
Maybe someone ask, when can we apply these research results to our humans? My answer is that it may take some time, and this time is not short, why? First of all, all scientific research, if applied to the human body at the end, requires a long experimental process to verify.
Second, the more complex the animal, the less effect you have on changing a gene to aging. This is because as the complexity of the species increases, so does the collaboration between different genes.
Importance of genetic collaboration
So, whether the research results we have now on model animals can ultimately be applied to humans is still a huge question mark.
Author: Tang Yi Zhe (Shenzhen Second People’s Hospital, Institute of Medical Research conversion PI, the main molecular mechanisms of cellular aging, central nervous system, endocrine Research on the regulation of aging and related metabolic diseases.)