Aging and the Unfolded Protein Response in the Endoplasmic Reticulum

The endoplasmic reticulum, like many structures in the cell, becomes dysfunctional in old tissues. Since it is involved in the later stages of the construction of properly formed proteins, this is one of the more problematic failures; degraded performance here has many secondary consequences. In this open access paper, researchers review what is known of how the endoplasmic reticulum fails to properly fold proteins in old tissues, and how it tries to respond to that failure with what is known as the unfolded protein response - a maintenance process that itself declines with age. These disruptions of normal function are a downstream consequence of the fundamental forms of molecular damage that cause aging, those described in the SENS rejuvenation research outline, but the precise chain of cause and effect that lies between these two has yet to be well mapped. Much of the research community is more interested in trying to override consequences rather than repair root cause damage, in effect trying to to force a damaged machine to act as though it isn't damaged. In this case, that means spurring greater unfolded protein response activity. There are obviously limits to how well this approach can work, as the underlying damage remains to cause all of its other harms, but like many of these strategies it can be shown to produce some degree of benefit. The cellular homeostasis maintains existence of life through integrative communication among various macromolecules ...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs