Issue 6, 2008

By the abstracts:

"Long-Term Treatment with a Chinese Herbal Formula, Sheng-Mai-San, Improves Cardiac Contractile Function in Aged Rats: The Role of Ca2+ Homeostasis" by Guang-Qin Zhang, Hui Wang, Wen-Tao Liu, Hang Dong, Wang-Fun Fong, Li-Min Tang, Yun-Hua Xiong, Zhi-Ling Yu, and Kam-Ming Ko. Tracks changes to calcium ion-related properties in old rat heart cells when given Sheng-Mai-Yin.

"Age-Dependent Signature of Metallothionein Expression in Primary CD4 T Cell Responses Is Due to Sustained Zinc Signaling" by Won-Woo Lee, Dapeng Cui, Marta Czesnikiewicz-Guzik, Ricardo Z.N. Vencio, Ilya Shmulevich, Alan Aderem, Cornelia M. Weyand, and Jörg J. Goronzy. Transcriptome analysis of CD4 T cells in 60-75 year olds. Sustained upregulation of zinc-binding metallothioneins after stimulation for longer period than they are upregulated for in young adults.

"Over-Expression of Heat Shock Protein 70 in Mice Is Associated with Growth Retardation, Tumor Formation, and Early Death" by Valerie Vanhooren, Xue-En Liu, Liesbeth Desmyter, Ye-Dong Fan, Lieve Vanwalleghem, Wim Van Molle, Sylviane Dewaele, Marleen Praet, Roland Contreras, Claude Libert, and Cuiying Chen. Mice genetically modified to overexpress HSP70 have lower weight (growth retardation), 50% lower concentrations of IGF-1, lower expression of glucocorticoid receptors in their livers and caspase-9 expression, higher levels of corticosterone and Bcl-2 expression (anti-apoptotic). I'd have thought most of these would have been good for lifespan, but no, they die at 18 months from tumours. Interesting. Paper is available.

"Enhanced Recovery from Contraction-Induced Damage in Skeletal Muscles of Old Mice Following Treatment with the Heat Shock Protein Inducer 17-(Allylamino)-17-Demethoxygeldanamycin" by Anna C. Kayani, Graeme L. Close, Caroline S. Broome, Malcolm J. Jackson, and Anne McArdle. Better recovery from exercise-induced damage to muscle in old mice when given a HSP70-inducer (84% vs 48% of pre-damage contractile force at 28 days). HSP70 bit over 2x higher. Full article available.

"Effect of Aging on Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor, proBDNF, and Their Receptors in the Hippocampus of Lou/C Rats" by M. Silhol, S. Arancibia, D. Perrin, T. Maurice, J. Alliot, and L. Tapia-Arancibia. Lou/C rats have better memory capacity than Wistar rats when old. Transcriptional analysis shows higher proBDNF in Lou/C, but decreased with age in contrast with Wistar. Also, lower decrease in TrkB.FL (proBDNF receptor), and no change in other proBDNF receptors in contrast with increases in Wistar.

"Weight Increase Is Associated with Skeletal Muscle Immunostaining for Advanced Glycation End Products, Receptor for Advanced Glycation End Products, and Oxidation Injury" by Maria Pia de la Maza, Jaime Uribarri, Daniela Olivares, Sandra Hirsch, Laura Leiva, Gladys Barrera, and Daniel Bunout. Immunostaining of caboxymethyl-lysine (CML, an AGE), and receptors of AGE (RAGE) from tissue taken from 10 middle-aged non-weight-gainers, 7 weight-gainers and 4 old people. CML and RAGE vs weight and age at r=0.84 (dunno how they combined the two).

"Engineered Repeated Electromagnetic Field Shock Therapy for Cellular Senescence and Age-Related Diseases" by Felipe P. Perez, Ximing Zhou, Jorge Morisaki, John Ilie, Todd James, and Donald A. Jurivich. They shock cells (?) and that upregulates HSR/HSF1 pathway. Temporarily reverses senescence and delays it in young cells.

de Grey's commentary on a thesis series topic: part of the differentiation mechanism from hESCs to mature neurons.