Aging & Longevity

Across species, spatial memory declines with age, possibly reflecting altered hippocampal and medial entorhinal cortex (MEC) function. However, the integrity of cellular and network-level spatial coding in aged MEC is unknown. Here, we leveraged in vivo electrophysiology to assess MEC function in young, middle-aged, and aged mice navigating virtual environments. In aged grid cells, we observed impaired stabilization of context-specific spatial firing, correlated with spatial memory deficits....

Alzheimer's disease is a specific neurodegenerative disorder, distinct from normal aging, with a growing unmet medical need. It is characterized by the accumulation of amyloid plaques in the brain, primarily consisting of amyloid beta (Aβ) fibrils. Therapeutic antibodies can slow down the disease, but are associated with potential severe side effects, motivating the development of small molecules to halt disease progression. This study investigates the interaction between the clinical drug...

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Neuroimaging and machine learning are advancing research into the mechanisms of biological aging. In this field, 'brain age gap' has emerged as a promising magnetic resonance imaging-based biomarker that quantifies the deviation between an individual's biological and chronological age of the brain. Here we conducted an in-depth genomic analysis of the brain age gap and its relationships with over 1,000 health traits. Genome-wide analyses in up to 56,348 individuals unveiled a heritability of...

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Sarcopenia, the progressive loss of skeletal muscle mass and function with aging, is a growing public health concern. Conventional treatments such as exercise, pharmacological agents, and nutritional support offer limited efficacy, especially in older populations with reduced mobility or comorbidities. This study aimed to evaluate low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) as a novel, non-invasive therapeutic approach for age-related muscle atrophy. LIPUS was applied to the right hindlimbs of young...

Complex diseases often exhibit sex dimorphism in morbidity and prognosis, many of which are age-related. However, the underlying mechanisms of sex-dimorphic aging remain foggy, with limited studies across multiple tissues. We systematically analyzed ~17,000 transcriptomes from 35 human tissues to quantitatively evaluate the individual and combined contributions of sex and age to transcriptomic variations. We discovered extensive sex dimorphisms during aging with distinct patterns of change in...

The ability to sense and adapt to adverse food conditions is essential for survival across species, but the detailed mechanisms of neuron-digestive crosstalk in food sensing and adaptation remain poorly understood. Here, we identify a novel mechanism by which Caenorhabditis elegans detect unfavorable food sources through neurons and initiate a systemic response to shut down digestion, thus safeguarding against potential harm. Specifically, we demonstrate that NSY-1, expressed in AWC neurons,...

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: To prevent physical frailty in later life, acquiring regular eating habits may be important, especially in midlife.

To gain a more comprehensive understanding of the relationships among immunoscenescence and inflammaging, and subsequent epigenetic aging, we measured a panel of 43 immune cell phenotypes and 68 inflammatory proteins collected from blood samples provided by participants in the Framingham Heart Study Offspring Cohort at Exam 7 (1998-2001) and principal component-based DNA methylation (DNAm)-based biologic clocks measured at the subsequent exam (Exam 8 2005-2008), an average of 6 years later. A...

RNAs and RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) play crucial roles in stress granule (SG) dynamics, yet the specific interactions between SG-associated circular RNAs (circRNAs) and RBPs in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) remain unclear. In this study, we identified m6A-modified circG3BP1 as a potential prognostic biomarker in ESCC. Under cisplatin-induced stress, IGF2BPs facilitate the m6A-dependent translocation of circG3BP1 to SGs, where it functions as a scaffold to enhance TIAR-CAPRIN1...

Being a major contributor to cell senescence and aging, DNA damage activates macroautophagy/autophagy, but how this process is affected by aging-rewired metabolism in normal biological systems remains to be explored. Here in cultured human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells (HsMSCs) and the mouse liver that accumulate DNA damage during aging, we found an elevation of DRAM1 (DNA damage regulated autophagy modulator 1) and DRAM1-mediated pro-senescent autophagy (DMPA). Confirming that...

Blood vessels exhibit a pronounced vulnerability to aging and are often at the forefront of systemic aging processes. Vascular endothelial cells, which line blood vessels and directly contact blood flow, are susceptible to damage and play a key role in vascular aging; however, the underlying mechanisms of their aging remain unclear. Here, we identify TRPM7 as a key molecule in vascular endothelial aging. Endothelial deletion of TRPM7 significantly accelerates premature vascular aging in mice....

We aimed to use multi-state models to assess joint impacts of lifestyle and genetic risk with phenotypic age acceleration on cardiometabolic multimorbidity (CMM) trajectory, and to further explore whether phenotypic age acceleration mediates association between lifestyle and each transitions. We conducted a prospective cohort study included 365,573 adults free of cardiometabolic diseases (CMDs) at baseline in UK Biobank. Multi-state model was used to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95%...

The locus coeruleus (LC) is a brainstem nucleus best known for being the primary site of noradrenaline production for the forebrain and is involved in the modulation and optimization of behavioral performance. The LC has many targets throughout the cortex, and ascending projections from the LC join the central tegmental tract (CTT), a well-defined white matter brainstem tract in the pons that terminates in the thalamus. Evidence indicates that the LC is one of the first brain regions to show...

Life expectancy has been increasing over the last decades, which is not matched by an increase in healthspan. Besides genetic composition, environmental and nutritional factors influence both health- and lifespan. Diet is thought to be a major factor for healthy ageing. Here, we show that dietary RNA species improve proteostasis in C. elegans. Inherent bacterial-derived double stranded RNA reduces protein aggregation in a C. elegans muscle proteostasis model. This beneficial effect depends on...

We aimed to determine reference values for handgrip strength in Europe. Data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe were used, involving adults aged 50 + years. Reference values were expressed as weighted percentiles for absolute (kg) and relative (kg/m²) handgrip strength. For women, the highest absolute handgrip strength was observed among the 50-54-year-olds (standing: 5th percentile [P5] = 19 kg; 50th percentile [P50] = 29 kg; 95th percentile [P95] = 39 kg, sitting: P5 =...

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Multi-organ research investigates interconnections among multiple human organ systems, enhancing our understanding of human aging and disease mechanisms. Here we use multi-organ imaging, individual- and summary-level genetics, and proteomics data consolidated via the MULTI Consortium to delineate a brain-heart-eye axis using brain patterns of structural covariance (PSCs), heart imaging-derived phenotypes (IDPs) and eye IDPs. We find that proteome-wide associations of the PSCs and IDPs show...

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a whole-joint disorder that interferes with the quality of life in older individuals. Here we report that ZDHHC11 is highly expressed in articular chondrocytes but is downregulated in the degenerated cartilage of aged mice and patients with OA. ZDHHC11 prevents chondrocyte senescence and promotes cartilage anabolism, culminating in an improved OA phenotype. The deletion of Zdhhc11 in mice (Zdhhc11^(fl/fl)) exacerbates OA progression in a destabilized medial meniscus model....