Fight Aging! Newsletter, August 6th 2018

In this study, we analyzed FGF21 levels and alterations in the expression of genes encoding components of the FGF21-responsive molecular machinery in adipose tissue from aged individuals so as to ascertain whether altered FGF21 responsiveness that develops with aging jeopardizes human health and/or accelerates metabolic disturbances associated with aging. We studied a cohort of 28 healthy elderly individuals (≥70 years) with no overt signs of metabolic or other pathologies and compared them with a cohort of 35 young healthy controls (≤40 years). Serum FGF21 levels were significantly increased in elderly individuals compared with young healthy controls. This is in line with previous reports describing an increase in FGF21 levels with aging. Levels of β-Klotho, the coreceptor required for cellular responsiveness to FGF21, were increased in subcutaneous adipose tissue from elderly individuals relative to those from young controls, whereas FGF receptor-1 levels were unaltered. Adipose explants from aged and young mice respond similarly to FGF21 "ex vivo". Thus, in contrast to what is observed in obesity and diabetes, high levels of FGF21 in healthy aging are not associated with repressed FGF21-responsiveness machinery in adipose tissue. The lack of evidence for impaired FGF21 responsiveness in adipose tissue establishes a distinction between alterations in the FGF21 endocrine system in aging and chronic metabolic pathologies. Either FGF21 resistance per se doe...
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