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Ancient Peruvians transported live parrots across the Andes
Pre-Inca elites wore headdresses made of feathers from Amazonian macaws
These ants navigate with a newly discovered ‘Moon compass’
Insects must perform tricky internal calculations to travel in a straight line
Why do rodents gnaw? Because it feels good
Newly mapped brain circuitry in mice links tooth grinding to pleasure pathways
Resident tissue macrophages maintain intraocular pressure homeostasis
Intraocular pressure is tightly regulated by the conventional outflow tissues, preventing ocular hypertension that leads to neurodegeneration of the optic nerve, or glaucoma. Although macrophages reside throughout the conventional outflow tract, their role in regulating intraocular pressure remains unknown. Using macrophage lineage-tracing approaches, we uncovered a dual macrophage ontogeny with distinct spatial organization across the mouse lifespan. Long-lived resident tissue macrophages were...
Sleep deprivation exhibits an age-dependent effect on infraslow global brain activity
Infraslow (<0.1 Hz) global brain activity, quantified by the global mean blood-oxygenation-level-dependent (gBOLD) signal in resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), is elevated during sleep and coupled to cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) dynamics, a key pathway for the brain waste clearance implicated in neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease. However, the effect of sleep deprivation on gBOLD activity and its interaction with aging remain poorly understood. Using a...
Histone modification clocks for robust cross-species biological age prediction and elucidating senescence regulation
Histone modifications represent an untapped resource for biological age prediction that overcomes limitations of traditional DNA methylation-based epigenetic clocks. Here, we developed and validated histone modification-based epigenetic clocks by systematically analyzing publicly available ChIP-seq datasets spanning six tissue types and six histone marks. We identified age-associated loci and constructed 36 tissue-specific epigenetic clocks that demonstrated strong resilience to technical and...
Sleep deprivation exhibits an age-dependent effect on infraslow global brain activity
Infraslow (<0.1 Hz) global brain activity, quantified by the global mean blood-oxygenation-level-dependent (gBOLD) signal in resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), is elevated during sleep and coupled to cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) dynamics, a key pathway for the brain waste clearance implicated in neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease. However, the effect of sleep deprivation on gBOLD activity and its interaction with aging remain poorly understood. Using a...
Impacts of parental age and inbreeding on fitness in a wild insect
Parental age and inbreeding have both been shown to have substantial fitness effects in laboratory experiments and in observations of wild animals. These demographic effects are likely to be strongly impacted by habitat fragmentation and warming temperatures, so understanding them is a priority. In insects and other ectotherms, some processes implicated in senescence are dependent on temperature. Anticipated changes in climate may therefore have direct effects on senescence in insects, or...
No evidence lithium supplementation extends lifespan in male Drosophila melanogaster
Pharmacological modulation of ageing is viewed as a viable route to extending lifespan and healthspan, yet the efficacy of putative geroprotectors may depend strongly on physiological and environmental context. Lithium chloride (LiCl) has been reported to extend lifespan in several model organisms, but evidence remains inconsistent and the role of reproductive investment-an energetically costly and often lifespan-correlated process-has rarely been examined. We tested the effects of dietary LiCl...
Modeling diseases of aging in larval zebrafish, a paradoxical yet powerful strategy
Neurodegenerative diseases are a set of devastating medical conditions in which neuronal loss associated with the aggregation of toxic proteins leads to progressive cognitive impairment. These diseases are usually modeled in animals by mimicking late disease stages through genetic modifications that aggressively accumulate proteins that damage the brain. However, these diseases typically unfold over decades, and disease-associated genes are known to have important, but understudied, biological...
Modeling diseases of aging in larval zebrafish, a paradoxical yet powerful strategy
Neurodegenerative diseases are a set of devastating medical conditions in which neuronal loss associated with the aggregation of toxic proteins leads to progressive cognitive impairment. These diseases are usually modeled in animals by mimicking late disease stages through genetic modifications that aggressively accumulate proteins that damage the brain. However, these diseases typically unfold over decades, and disease-associated genes are known to have important, but understudied, biological...
Cerebrospinal fluid NPTX1 and NPTXR predict neurodegeneration and clinical progression in Alzheimer's disease
Identifying biomarkers that precisely track the neurodegenerative component of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is essential for effective clinical management. Here we show that cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of the synaptic proteins NPTX1 and NPTXR are robust indicators of disease severity and future clinical progression. In two independent, multi-ethnic cohorts spanning the AD continuum (n = 635), lower CSF NPTX levels correlate strongly with cognitive impairment and cortical thinning in...
Considerations on Heterochronic Plasma Transfer in Aging Research
No abstract
Polyphenol mediated zinc-oxygen synergistic hydrogel remodels senescent microenvironment for periodontal tissue regeneration
Senescent mesenchymal stem cells residing in an inflammatory, dysbiotic, and hypoxic microenvironment pose a barrier to periodontal regeneration. Here we introduce a hydrocaffeic acid (HCA)-mediated silk fibroin hydrogel incorporating Mn/HCA-modified calcium peroxide (Mn-hCaO₂) and HCA-modified zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (hZIF8) to rejuvenate this environment. The strategy imbues the hydrogel with enhanced adhesion and adaptability in periodontal pockets. The Mn-HCA complex acts...
Unbiased recording and identification of thymic cellular interactomes using synthetic Notch receptors
Cellular interactions between thymocytes and other immune and stromal thymic cells play a key role in T cell maturation and homeostasis. Previous efforts delineating the cellular interactomes that support T cell development have mostly relied on imaging techniques, genetic deletion of essential molecular factors and bone marrow chimeras. Here, using synthetic NOTCH receptors we took a direct and unbiased genetic approach to fluorescently label cells in physical contact with CD4^(+) and...
Epigenetic aging and cancer incidence in a German cohort of older adults
Rising life expectancy and an aging population highlight the importance of cancer control. DNA methylation (DNAm)-based biological age (BA) may provide insights into aging, carcinogenesis, and cancer prevention and care. We estimated five BA metrics among 1916 participants aged 50-75 years at baseline in the German ESTHER cohort, with repeat BA measurements available for 894 participants after 8 years. Multivariable linear regression was used to assess associations between prior cancer and...
The p21 resilience network: a conceptual framework linking senescence to ferroptosis and cuproptosis resistance
We reconceptualize p21 as the master regulator of a "resilience network" that empowers cancer cells to defy therapy. Beyond cell cycle arrest, p21 orchestrates a multi-faceted defense, suppressing ferroptosis and cuproptosis by governing redox and metal ion homeostasis. This perspective demands a therapeutic paradigm shift: targeting the p21 network is essential to dismantle this evolved survival machinery and force durable tumor regression in resistant cancers.
Effects of daily multivitamin-multimineral and cocoa extract supplementation on epigenetic aging clocks in the COSMOS randomized clinical trial
Large-scale randomized trials have found that multivitamin-multimineral (MVM) supplements and cocoa flavanols may benefit several age-related chronic conditions among older adults, but it remains unclear whether these two supplements directly slow the biological aging process. This prespecified ancillary study evaluated the 2-year effect of a daily MVM (Centrum Silver) and cocoa extract (500 mg cocoa flavanols per day, including 80 mg (-)-epicatechin) on five DNA methylation measures of...
Graded normobaric hypoxia alters cerebral oxygenation and cognition in middle-aged adults: a single-blind counterbalanced randomized crossover trial
Aging is associated with reduced cerebrovascular reactivity and impaired neurovascular coupling, limiting the brain's ability to maintain adequate oxygen delivery during physiological stressors such as hypoxia. These vascular changes may heighten middle-aged adults' vulnerability to hypoxia-induced neural and cognitive impairments, yet dose-response data integrating cerebral oxygenation and cognition remain scarce. In a single-blind, randomized crossover trial, 16 participants completed four...
Development and characterization of experimental beta-cell senescence models revealing autophagy defects and altered stimulus-secretion coupling
Aging is a major contributor to β-cell dysfunction in type 2 diabetes, with cellular senescence increasingly recognized as an important underlying mechanism. Here, we established a doxorubicin (DOX)-induced senescence model using MIN6 mouse insulinoma β-cell line to elucidate the mechanisms by which senescence remodels organelle homeostasis and insulin secretion. Senescence was validated by senescence-associated β-galactosidase positivity, p16^(INK4a)/p21/p53 upregulation, and cell cycle arrest....