Improving Lysosomal Function is a Good Thing

Lysosomes are recycling units inside cells responsible for breaking down damaged cellular components and unwanted proteins. Lysosomal function declines with age in important long-lived cells, such as those of the nervous system, as they accumulate metabolic waste products that they are unequipped by evolution to destroy. They become bloated and inefficient, and as a consequence garbage piles up in their cells harming the surrounding tissues. This is seen in diseases such as macular degeneration, in which cells of the retina are overwhelmed by certain types of metabolic waste. The SENS rejuvenation research approach to this aspect of aging is to find ways to safely break down these waste products, thus rescuing the lysosomes. Other researchers have in past years demonstrated that there are benefits to be had from enhancing lysosomal function to at least partially compensate for the consequences of waste buildup. This paper is another in line with this latter approach: Healthful cell maintenance requires the efficient degradative processing and removal of waste material. Retinal pigmented epithelial (RPE) cells have the onerous task of degrading both internal cellular debris generated through autophagy as well as phagocytosed photoreceptor outer segments. We propose that the inadequate processing material with the resulting accumulation of cellular waste contributes to the downstream pathologies characterized as age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The lysosomal enzymes r...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs