Long Term Hypoxia Slows Aging in an Accelerated Aging Mouse Model

Researchers here show that a mouse model of accelerated aging lives considerably longer when in a low-oxygen atmosphere for most of its life span. This is quite interesting, even given that large effect sizes in accelerated aging models should be taken with a grain of salt. It is most likely that any effect on normal mice would be smaller, and also likely that any form of life extension achieved through manipulation of stress responses, such as the response to hypoxia, will produce much smaller effects in long-lived mammals than in short-lived mammals. As is always the case, recall that when we say "accelerated aging" what we really mean is that the mouse lineage in question exhibits some deficiency that allows one specific form of cellular dysfunction to accumulate rapidly. These models can appear a little like accelerated aging, but they are not actually exhibiting accelerated aging, just the accumulation of one form of damage. Normal aging is a mix of numerous different types of cellular dysfunction and damage, and that difference matters. In this case, the model has a mutation that impairs DNA repair. The large effect size for hypoxia in this model in turn might imply that hypoxic stress is good at improving DNA repair efficiency, but more research would be needed to confirm that hypothesis. Hypoxia extends lifespan and neurological function in a mouse model of aging To the best of our knowledge, the current study is the first to report that hypoxia...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs