A Novel Mitophagy Inducing Compound

A sizable fraction of research aimed at treating aging involves screening natural compounds in search of those that can modestly slow aging in short-lived animal models. This is because the economics of developing such a compound into a drug or supplement are well understood by investors, and because it dovetails well with the scientific goal of increased understanding of how aging progresses at the level of cellular biochemistry, rather than because it is going to make a big difference for patients. If sizable gains in healthy life span were the driving incentive, the field would look very different, and the emphasis would be on different approaches. Today's publicity materials are a good example of the way in which unbiased screening works. It tends to find ways to influence the well-known set of mechanisms related to the calorie restriction response, responsible for the plasticity of life span in short-lived species. These include upregulation of autophagy, specific upregulation of mitophagy, the autophagic processes responsible for clearing damaged and worn mitochondria, improvement of mitochondrial function via other means, and so forth. The problem with adopting this approach is that calorie restriction and related alterations in metabolism produce much smaller gains in life expectancy in long-lived species than in the short-lived species used in screening. Thus unbiased screening as a basis for a program is more or less a guarantee of producing marginal therapie...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs