Microtubule Activity in Dopaminergic Neurons Affects the Pace of Aging in Flies

In an interesting discovery, researchers here note evidence for the behavior of dopamine generating neurons in the fly brain to have an sizable influence on the pace of aging and longevity in this species. This effect on aging appears to depend on microtubule activity in these cells, but the work leaves open the question of how exactly this change to a very specific population of neurons alters life span. Much more is left to accomplish in order to even begin to speculate on relevance to human biochemistry. Dopaminergic neurons, a critical modulatory system in the brain, are greatly affected by age, but it is unclear whether it can impact the aging process in animals. During the course of studying a putative scaffolding protein, Mask, a novel role was discovered for dopaminergic neurons in regulating longevity and aging in fruit flies. Overexpressing Mask in dopaminergic neurons leads to a ∼40% increase in lifespan in flies. This effect seems to be specific to the dopaminergic neurons, as overexpressing Mask in neither the entire body nor the nervous system (neurons or glial cells) showed significant effects on the lifespan. Although the dopaminergic system provides essential modulation on various behaviors and physiological functions, flies devoid of dopamine in their brains and worms lacking the rate-limiting enzymes for dopamine synthesis live a normal lifespan. These results suggest that dopamine systems is not required to drive normal aging. Overexpress...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs