Saturday, January 29, 2011

Pycnogenol Improves Learning Impairment and Memory Deficit in Senescence-Accelerated Mice

Summary: Senescence accelerated mice of the memory-impairment variety do better learning with pycnogenol.

Interestingness: 2

Paper by Fujun Liu, Yongxiang Zhang and Benjamin HS Lau in the Journal of Anti-Aging Medicine, Volume 2, Issue 4, Winter 1999.

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This is another one of those give substance to senescence accelerated mice (SAM) (see http://readingrejuvenationresearch.blogspot.com/2010/01/interventions-of-senescence-in-sam-mice.html), watch them act normal type papers. In this case, the substance, pycnogenol, was a commercial extract of the bark of the French maritime pine, which is made up mostly of procyanidins, which is the class of oligomers of flavonoids. The SAM chosen was SAMP8, which has mental issues. The task was learning. The SAMP8 did better when given the substance compared to controls, and about as well as the SAM resistant variety in these groups of 10 mice each. The suspected mechanism is anti-oxidant activity. Whoopee.

The interesting bit of the paper is the description of the memory experiments, which I'd heard mentioned before, as passive and active avoidance, but not described.

The passive avoidance tests are the if-you-move-I-shoot type, and they did two tests, called step-through and step-down. In the step-through test, mice are put in a bright area. There is a little tunnel to go to the dark area. Mice usually try to avoid being in a bright area, but when they go through the tunnel they get electrically shocked. If they don't go through on subsequent tests, it is assumed that they learnt. In the step-down test, they are put on a small rubber pad, surrounded by a sea of electric shock metallic mesh. If they stay on the pad for ten minutes, they "win".

The active avoidance test is, as expected, approximately the opposite. They are put in an area with two infrared beams that can be triggered. For ten seconds before the mesh below their feet becomes electrified, an alarm sounds and a light goes on, then the electricity is turned on for ten seconds. If they trigger both beams while the alarm is going on, either before or during the electric shock, the electricity is turned off. To trigger the beams they would have to run around.
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Abstract follows:

Pycnogenol (procyanidins extracted from the bark of French maritime pine, Pinus maritima Aiton) has been shown to be a potent free radical scavenger and an antioxidant phytochemical. The effects of pycnogenol on learning impairment and memory deficit in senescence-accelerated mouse (SAM) as a murine model of accelerated aging were determined. SAMP8, a strain of senescence-prone mice, exhibits immunodeficiency, hemopoietic dysfunction, learning impairment, and memory deficit. The effects of pycnogenol on learning performance and memory deficit were measured using step-through and step-down passive avoidance tests and shuttle box conditioned avoidance test. Oral feeding with pycnogenol for 2 months increased the retention rate in the step-through and the step-down tests and the rate of conditioned avoidance response in the shuttle box test. The latency of mice in the step-through test and the number of successful mice in the step-down test also increased with pycnogenol feeding. These results suggest that pycnogenol can improve learning impairment and memory deficit associated with aging.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Thyrotropin-Releasing Hormone Accelerates and Enhances the Age-Postponing Effects of Melatonin

Summary: Thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) plus melatonin increase lifespan of old mice by three months

Interestingness: 4

Paper by Walter Pierpaoli, Daniele Bulian, Gordana Bulian and Gonzague Kistler in the Journal of Anti-Aging Medicine, Volume 2, Issue 4, Winter 1999.

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The sample size is small, 15 mice per group, but the effect size is interesting. The main table of results shows the following: for four groups of 15+-1 BALB/cJ female mice, 20 months old at the start of the experiment, a control group, one given melatonin, one TRH, one both, mean survival was 765+-54 days, 810+-50 days, 804+-80 days, and 861+-70 days respectively. There's also other results, with the TRH plus melatonin combination raising numbers of leukocytes and blood lymphocytes, and lowering cholesterol and triglycerides in old mice.

TRH induces release of thyrotropin, aka thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) which then induces the thyroid to release T3 and T4. Wikipedia has TRH being produced in the hypothalamus but the paper says it's produced by the hypothalamus and the pineal gland.

The mechanism behind this isn't precisely hypothesised but they do mention immune system upregulation. The authors hype TRH as the real reason for the supposed effects of melatonin on aging, saying that melatonin dosing stops the pineal gland making its own, so it can stay young and keep on making TRH later. TRH is also given as the explanation of why pineal gland transplantation from young to old mice, mentioned in http://readingrejuvenationresearch.blogspot.com/2010/03/perspective-on-proposed-association-of.html, increases the longevity of those mice.

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Abstract follows:

Studies over a period of several years have suggested an age-postponing effect of circadian nocturnal administration of melatonin and of young-to-old pineal grafting in rodents. Of the two procedures, the effect of pineal grafting was significantly more pronounced. Also, old-to-young and young-to-old pineal transplantation in normal or pinealectomized recipients suggested that the pineal itself contains the capacity to prevent or to accelerate the course of aging depending on the age of the donor and/or of a recipient when the pineal is transplanted. This observation prompted the idea that the "program of aging" might be governed by the capacity of the pineal to maintain the control of central neuroendocrine functions and to constantly synchronize the synthesis and release of hormones according to a strict circadian periodicity and seasonal rhythmicity. This report deals with the experimental evidence that, while melatonin alone exerts a low-level age-postponing activity, its age-delaying effects are greatly enhanced and accelerated when given in combination with a pineal peptide, thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH). This peptide may be a key element in the mechanism by which both melatonin and pineal grafting might postpone aging. In fact, as suggested by our data here, TRH could be one of the basic mediators in the brain (pineal-hypothalamic-hypophyseal axis) and in peripheral endocrine glands (e.g., the beta, insulin-producing cells in the pancreas). TRH may directly translate the light and temperature-mediated environmental stimuli into rapid energy-adapting biochemical processes which constantly monitor cell functions relating to energy production, in particular those required for thermoregulation. We show here that this energy-monitoring action of TRH is not thyroid mediated. We also show that TRH is not itself a toxic agent even when administered daily for long periods at a very high pharmacological dosage.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Effect of Carnosine on Age-Induced Changes in Senescence-Accelerated Mice

Summary: Carnosine extends median survival on an accelerated-aging model of mice by about 20%

Interestingness: 2

Paper by MO Yuneva, ER Bulygina, SC Gallant, GG Kramarenko, SL Stvolinsky, ML Semyonova and AA Boldyrev in the Journal of Anti-Aging Medicine, Volume 2, Issue 4, Winter 1999.

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In a study of two groups of 70 senescence-accelerated mice prone 1 (SAMP1) each, carnosine extended the time taken until half the mice in its group died. That is, on a plot of age versus percentage of animals alive, plotting both SAMP1 control and SAMP1 given carnosine groups, both curves start at 100% and drop to zero%. They reach zero at around the same age (17 months), but the control curve drops earlier, with the 50% mark being around 10 months for control and 12 months for the carnosine'd mice. Other benefits included glossier fur, less skin ulcers, and much more reactivity and passive avoidance. I don't know what reactivity is, but was in the group with passive avoidance. From wikipedia, I get that carnosine raises corticosterone. Doesn't sound good to me.

SAMP1 mice are whacked though, so again, I don't put much weight on this. SAMP1 mice are prone to amyloidoisis (http://readingrejuvenationresearch.blogspot.com/2010/01/interventions-of-senescence-in-sam-mice.html).

They don't know about the mechanism of action. They suggest a few: carnosine is a oxide radical scavenger, it prevents radical production in the first place, and it is an antiglycation agent, but maybe something else.

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Abstract follows:

The effect of carnosine on the life span and several brain biochemical characteristics in senescence-accelerated mice-prone 1 (SAMP1) was investigated. A 50% survival rate of animals treated with carnosine increased by 20% as compared to controls. Moreover, the number of animals that lived to an old age significantly increased. The effect of carnosine on life span was accompanied by a decrease in the level of 2'-tiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), monoamine oxidase b (MAO b), and Na/K-ATPase activity. There was also an increase in glutamate binding to N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors. These observations are consistent with the conclusion that carnosine increases life span and quality of life by diminishing production of lipid peroxides and reducing the influence of reactive oxygen species (ROS) on membrane proteins.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Impact of Dietary Restriction on Brain Aging and Neurodegenerative Disorders: Emerging Findings from Experimental and Epidemiological Studies

Summary: Calorie restriction helps mice and rat models of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and stroke. 2-doxyglucose does too.

Interestingness: 2

Paper by Mark P Mattson in the Journal of Anti-Aging Medicine, Volume 2, Issue 4, Winter 1999.

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Rats and mice models of Alzheimer's disease (AD) did better when they were on a calorie restriction diet (CR). The same for Parkinson's disease (PD). Also for Huntington disease (HD). Also for rats given a stroke. I don't like the models, except the one for stroke, so I don't care much about these results.

They think this effect comes from over-expression of heat shock proteins (HSP-70) when glucose goes low. When given 2-deoxygluose (2-DG), a modified glucose that competes with glucose for the energy chain enzymes but is not able to be broken down properly (http://readingrejuvenationresearch.blogspot.com/2010/07/2-deoxy-d-glucose-feeding-in-rats.html), rats and mice also did better in the AD, PD and stroke models, even though they lived under all-you-can eat buffet conditions.

Finally, some lame-sounding correlation studies between caloric intake surveys with PD, AD and stroke are listed.
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Abstract follows:

Although dietary restriction (DR) extends life span and reduces levels of cellular oxidative stress in several different organ systems of laboratory rodents and monkeys, its impact on the brain is unknown. As is the case with age-related disorders in other organ systems (e.g., cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and many cancers), neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer disease (AD), Parkinson disease (PD), and stroke involve increased levels of cellular oxidative stress and metabolic compromise. Recent studies of experimental rat and mouse models of AD, PD, and stroke have shown that DR increases resistance of neurons to dysfunction and degeneration. DR can attenuate age-related and disease-specific deficits in cognitive and motor functions in rodents. The available data suggest at least two possible mechanisms whereby DR protects neurons. One involves decreased levels of mitochondrial oxyradical production, and the second involves induction of the expression of "stress proteins" and neurotrophic factors. The latter mechanism is supported by data showing that the neuroprotective effect of DR can be mimicked by administration of 2-deoxyglucose to animals fed ad libitum. Recent findings in epidemiological studies of human populations suggest that individuals with a low daily calorie intake have reduced risk for AD and PD. Collectively, the available data suggest that DR may prove beneficial in reducing both the incidence and severity of neurodegenerative disorders in humans.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Rest of volume 2, Issue 3

The rest of issue 3 of 1999 consists of:

A review of the 28th Annual Meeting of the American Aging Association by RM Anson and MA Lane.

Two book reviews:
  • "Understanding the process of aging: The roles of mitochondria, free radicals, and antioxidants", edited by Enrique Cadenas and Lester Packer. Very positive.
  • "Towards prolongation of the healthy life span: Practical approaches to intervention", edited by Denham Harman, Robin Holliday and Mohsen Meydani. This is the collection of papers and posters for the 1997 meeting of the International Association of Biomedical Gerontology. Also very positive


The gerontology literature review:
  • "Human embryonic stem-cell research: science and ethics", by Shirley J Wright, in American Scientist. Ethics of stem cell research.
  • "Embryonic stem cells for medicine", by Roger A Pedersen, in Scientific American. Ethics of embryonic stem cells and cloning.

The usual other sections: literature watch and calendar. Web watch disappeared.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Formamidopyrimidine—DNA Glycosylase Targeted to Specific Organelles in C2C12 Cells

Summary: Targeting mitochondria or nucleus with an oxidised DNA base remover

Interestingness: 3

Paper by Karah A Street, Kerrie L. Hall, Patrick Murphy and Christi A Walter in the Journal of Anti-Aging Medicine, Volume 2, Issue 3, Fall 1999.

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The follow up paper to this one could be very interesting. This one seems to show that they could target either the mitochondria, or the nucleus with a protein, formamidopyrimidine-DNA glycosylase (Fpg), that gets rid of 2-deoxy-8-hydroxyguanine (8-OHdG), a screwed up version of the guanine base and the most common oxidised base. 8-OHdG causes the guanines (G) to be replaced by thymine (T) (by the normal repair mechanism I think). Fpg gets rid of 8-OHdG by taking out the base and leaving the ribose chain. This is supposedly a part of one of the normal DNA fixing mechanisms, called the base excision repair (BER), where one protein gets rid of a mutated base, and another goes and inserts the right base in.

So, yes, they created two DNA vectors, inserted them into some mouse muscle cells, and mostly saw what they were looking for, with the nuclear DNA being expressed mostly in the nucleus, and the mitochondrial in the cytoplasm. The levels of the molecule seemed pretty low though, and didn't correlate with the number of copies they inserted.

No assessment of the amount of 8-OHdG damage in the DNAs after transfection was done. I assume that's part of the plan for future work.
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Abstract follows:

Mitochondrial respiration provides a major source of energy for eukaryotic cells. However, the energy-producing processes also generate reactive oxygen species, which in turn damage mitochondrial DNA found in the mitochondrial matrix. Due to its locale, mitochondrial DNA is more susceptible to oxidative damage than nuclear DNA. While mitochondria do have some DNA repair capabilities, particularly base excision repair, oxidative damage persists in mitochondrial DNA. Correlations have been demonstrated between increasing age and increased levels of oxidative damage and mitochondrial DNA mutations. The current experiments were designed to begin to more directly delineate the role oxidative damage in mitochondrial DNA plays in aging. The mouse myoblast cell line, C2C12, was transfected with vectors, which express formamidopyrimidine-DNA glycosylase-myc fusion protein (Fpg-myc) and which contain either a mitochondrial or nuclear localization signal. Positive transfectants display expression of fpg at the mRNA level and exhibit an increase in Fpg activity in a whole-cell protein extract using a Fpg activity assay. Immunofluorescence analyses confirm that the transfected vectors have Fpg-myc appropriately targeted to mitochondria or nuclei. These cell lines with specifically targeted Fpg-myc expression provide the tools to test the effects of increasing the levels of a DNA glycosylase in mitochondria and nuclei on oxidative damage in DNA.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Centrophenoxine Slows Down, but Does Not Reverse, Lipofuscin Accumulation in Cultured Cells

Summary: Centrophenoxine is not very interesting with regards to lipofuscin

Interestingness: 1

Paper by Alexei Terman and Martin Welander in the Journal of Anti-Aging Medicine, Volume 2, Issue 3, Fall 1999.

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Lipofuscin is made up of the residues from lysosome degradation. Wikipedia claims it is the product of oxidised unsaturated fatty acids. It doesn't degrade with time in the body by itself, it just accumulates. The age-spots in old people are made of this.

Centrophenoxine is a treatement for senile dementia, which wikipedia claims improves memory and general cognition.

They tried using centrophenoxine to stop formation of, and to get rid of lipofuscin in rat heart cells exposed to high levels of oxigen (to accelerate lipofuscin production is my guess, since they only left it for a few weeks). It reduced formation by about half at what seems to me to be very high concentrations (almost a millimole), but did didly for removing already established lipofuscin particles or modifying number of autophagic vacuoles induced by leupeptin. They attribute the reduction effect on its anti-oxidant properties
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Abstract follows:

Centrophenoxine, a drug used in the treatment of senile dementia, has been suggested to retard, or even reverse, lipofuscin accumulation within postmitotic cells. However, a true capacity of centrophenoxine to eliminate already formed lipofuscin inclusions has not been convincingly demonstrated. Moreover, no evidence has been obtained regarding the possible mechanisms through which intracellular content of lipofuscin would be diminished by centrophenoxine. Here we show that (a) centrophenoxine at concentrations of 0.25 or 0.5 mM diminishes lipofuscin accumulation within cultured neonatal rat cardiac myocytes (by 44% or 51%, respectively, during a period of 2 weeks) when it was constantly present in the culture medium; (b) the same treatment of rat cardiac myocytes and AG-1518 human f ibroblasts, however, does not eliminate already formed lipofuscin inclusions; (c) the formation of autophagic vacuoles, and ensuing degradation of their contents, are not influenced by centrophenoxine. Thus, our results do not support the idea that centrophenoxine can reverse age-related accumulation of lipofuscin. The observed decrease of lipofuscin formation is probably due to the previously shown antioxidant properties of centrophenoxine.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Possible Influence of Metabolic Activity on Aging

Summary: Details of ATP production control mechanism in mitochondria

Interestingness: 4

Paper by Bernhard Kadenbach, Elisabeth Bender, Annette Reith, Andreas Becker, Shahla Hammerschmidt, Icksoo Lee, Susanne Arnold and Maik Hüttemann in the Journal of Anti-Aging Medicine, Volume 2, Issue 3, Fall 1999.

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This is more of a mitochondria biochem details piece, not directly related to aging. Most of it is too detailed for me to summarise or keep in memory or even follow.

Some interesting bits at the front that are not usually spelt out: out of the 13 proteins that mtDNA codes for, seven code for parts (out of 45) of NADH (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, protonated form) dehydrogenase (aka complex I), one for ubiquinol-cytochrome c oxidoreductase (aka complex III) (out of 11), three for cytochrome c oxidase (aka complex IV) (out of 13), and two for ATP synthase (out of some number I couldn't find). There's 5-10 mtDNA copies per mitochondrion, and 100-1000 mitochondria per cell.

It then describes two separate mechanisms of respiratory control. The first being due to the stimulation of ATP synthase by ADP triggering a lower proton motive force (deltaP) which trigger the proton pumps of the respiratory chain (NADH dehydrogenase, cytochrome c oxidoreductase and cytochrome c oxidase), kind of like an inverted system I think, with the final step pressuring the steps that come before it, but I imagine talking about the order here is completely wrong, they all happen at the same time. The second being due to the ATP/ADP ratio, with high ATP/ADP intramitochondrial ratio triggering a shut down of cytochrome c oxidase. This second method of control is bypassed by the presence of certain molecules, including 3,5-diiodo-L-thyronine, suggested as the mechanism of the short-term effects of thyoroid hormones, and palmitate (but not stearate, oleate or arachidonate).

The paper then does some studies showing that cAMP-dependent phosphorilation of complex IV enhances this ATP/ADP ratio control mechanism, and mitochondrial protein phosphatases reverse this enhancement. This second effect is shown mainly by adding a potassium fluoride which acts as a phosphatase inhibitor, and seeing the cAMP effect be stronger.

They also confirmed that it is mostly one mutant species of mtDNA that dominates a muscle fiber. They mapped a common deletion of mtDNA, probably that mtDNA4977 that was seen a couple of posts ago, and its occurrence varied between 0 and 0.06%, but corresponded with the bits of tissue that had malfunctioning complex IV.

They then speculate on how this phosphorilation/dephosphorilation mechanism is usually in balance, and is controlled by stressors and how when the ATP/ADP control mechanism is working, the proton gradient voltage is lower, and so less leakage of protons across the membrane occur, and less reactive oxide species are produced, and how this would be normally bypassed in a high caloric diet by the presence of palmitic acid, but the chain of reasoning is long and requires more concentration than I was willing to give it.

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Abstract follows:

The mitochondrial hypothesis on aging suggests stochastic stomatic mutations of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) as an important cause of respiratory-defective cells and the decline of energetic capabilities with increasing age. Reactive oxygen species (ROS), which are produced in the respiratory chain under stress conditions, are assumed to cause deletions and/or mutations of mtDNA. Using quantitative PCR, the stochastic distribution of the "common deletion" of mtDNA in human skeletal muscle tissue is shown. Recent data suggest that in vivo, under normal conditions, respiration is controlled by the intramitochondrial ATP/ADP ratio, via interaction of the nucleotides with subunit IV of cytochrome c oxidase, representing the rate-limiting step of the respiratory chain. Kinetic data are presented indicating that this "second mechanism of respiratory control" is turned on by cAMP-dependent phosphorylation of the enzyme and turned off by mitochondrial protein phosphatases. It is proposed that dephosphorylation of cytochrome c oxidase via "deleterious stress signals" results in increased mitochondrial membrane potentials and stimulated production of ROS in the mitochondrial respiratory chain. As a consequence, mutations of mtDNA would increase and aging would be accelerated. The inhibition of cytochrome c oxidase at high ATP/ADP ratios can also be abolished by low concentrations of free palmitate and high substrate pressure in the respiratory chain, supporting the notion that low caloric diet supports longevity.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Modeling the Role of Mitochondrial Mutations in Cellular Aging

Summary: Model of what happens if mitochondria with damaged DNA both reproduces and degrades slower than intact mitochondria, and how it fits observed data

Interestingness: 7

Paper by Axel Kowald and Thomas BL Kirkwood in the Journal of Anti-Aging Medicine, Volume 2, Issue 3, Fall 1999.

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They start by claiming there is a problem with the then-present theory of how damaged mitochondria are preferentially disseminated/take over cells by noting that it, the theory, is inconsistent with experimental results that show that damaged mitochondria is more prevalent in senescent cells than in dividing cells, and that the cells, or at least the muscle fibres, are taken over by one mutant type of mitochondria (by one I mean one type per case, not one common type for all cases) like we just saw in the last post http://readingrejuvenationresearch.blogspot.com/2010/12/segmental-nature-of-age-associated.html. Those are the main problems they want to see if they can patch with their model.

Their model starts at de Grey's model http://readingrejuvenationresearch.blogspot.com/2010/01/proposed-refinement-of-mitochondrial.html that basically hypothesises that mutant mitochondria produce less holes in their membranes and so are degraded less often. They justify the apparent contradiction in mutant mitochondria producing less holes with the "well known" fact that they produce more radicals by saying that most radicals are O2.- radicals but only the perhydroxy radical (HO2.-) can rip protons from lipids. Mutant mitochondria have a lower proton gradient so they produce lower amounts of HO2.- even if they produce more O2.-. Would seem good to get actual measurements, but they say that these aren't available and that they would be hard to get.

They, instead, produce a model with two assumptions: the first is that damaged mitochondria are destroyed slower than ones with intact mtDNA, and secondly, one introduced by them, that damaged mitochondria grow slower, which they justify by the energy shortage produced by the lower proton gradient. They split mitochondria into six groups, for little membrane damage, medium membrane damage and high membrane damage, each with intact mtDNA or mutant mtDNA. Radicals can increase the level of membrane damage or switch the mitochondria from an intact to a damaged mtDNA state. They give different turnover rates for mitochondria in each of the membrane damage classes, independent of their mtDNA state. The corresponding half lives for each damage class are 10, 2 and 1 week for low, medium and high damage. They used a factor of 2 as the increase in rate of free radicals that a mutant mitochondria produces compared to intact mitochondria, that mutants produced membrane damage at a rate 10 times lower than intact, and that intact grew 5 times quicker. I guess these numbers were half-guesses, and probably important in the results they got.

The model replicates the features from experiments they were looking to replicate, with one mutant taking over cells, and senescent cells having larger proportion of mutants than dividing cells, due to cell replication being a purifier of mitochondria. This purification happens because of the growth advantage of the intact mitochondria. This effect dominates when large amounts of mitochondria are to be produced, as in dividing cells, but the rate of destruction dominates when few mitochondria are being synthesised. They have some graphs showing what happens when the parameters are very different: if the mitochondria destruction rate are a bit lower, the population eventually collapses, if they are much higher, they collapse very quickly, along with other graphs showing the effects of different rates of cell reproduction and how that affects mitochondria population and stability (quick enough cell reproduction can fix higher rates of mutation).

From the model they also predict differences in importance between telomere shortening and mitochondrial damage in vivo vs in vitro. They claim that because in vitro conditions cells are replicated quickly, their collection of mitochondria will be pure through the process talked about above, so they will reach their Hayflick limit with nary an issue in their mitochondria, while in vivo, where cells replicate more slowly, mitochondrial damage will accumulate earlier and keeping telomeres long will not have an effect on cell lifespan.

(Interesting little factoid in the paper that I didn't fit in anywhere else: oxygen radicals are estimated to amount to 1-4% of consumed oxygen which sounded like a lot)

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Abstract follows:

The mitochondrial theory of aging suggests that an accumulation of defective mitochondria leads to loss of cell viability. The challenge is to explain how mitochondrial defects accumulate within cells, and why this process is more evident in postmitotic than in dividing cells. We describe a new mathematical model incorporating two critical features: (a) defective mitochondria are turned over more slowly than intact ones, and (b) defective mitochondria suffer a growth disadvantage. We also model the effect of cell division on the accumulation of defective mitochondria. The results support the mitochondrial theory and explain many of the observed data. The relationship of the mitochondrial theory to the suggested role of telomere loss in cell replicative senescence is discussed. We suggest that because of differences in the kinetics of their impact on cells, these two mechanisms have different relative importance for in vivo and in vitro cell aging.