Restoration of Impaired Cellular Housekeeping in Intestinal Stem Cells in Aging Flies Improves Function and Extends Life

In aging flies, we can consider degeneration of intestinal tissue and function as the primary cause of mortality, in much the same way as we can consider cardiovascular dysfunction as the primary cause of mortality in humans. It isn't the whole story, but it is a sizable portion of the story. Whenever reading research about intestinal function and life span in flies it is worth bearing this in mind: flies are not people, and while it is likely that similar processes operate in both species, their details and relative importance are likely different. Those preliminaries out of the way, today's open access paper is a recent example of extending life span in flies via improved intestinal stem cell function. The authors have discovered a faltering in cellular housekeeping that impairs stem cells in older flies, and which can be overridden via a suitable upregulation of the appropriate proteins. Stem cell function in general declines with age, in all tissues. Stem cells and the cells of their supporting niche become damaged, their numbers diminished, and stem cells react in inappropriate ways to changes in the surrounding environment, such as by remaining quiescent rather than generating daughter cells to support the surrounding tissue. Numerous lines of work in regenerative medicine and the new longevity industry involve ways to put stem cells back to work, even damaged as they are. In animal studies this appears beneficial and less likely to induce cancer than was origina...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs