Age-Related Upregulation of Autophagy as a Possible Contribution to Bat Longevity

Bat species include many that are long-lived for their size. Flying species in general are long lived; one can find many similarities in metabolism between bats and birds. It may be the case that the much higher metabolic rate of flying species requires improved mechanisms of cell resilience and cell maintenance that have the side-effect of better resisting the damage of aging. On the cell resilience side, the membrane pacemaker hypothesis considers that longer-lived species have cell membranes more resistant to oxidation by the byproducts of metabolic activity. On the cell maintenance side, we have studies such as this one, in which researchers show that bats appear to upregulate the cellular recycling mechanism of autophagy with age, and thereby presumably better clear out damaged structures and proteins. The hallmarks of aging are remarkably similar across mammals, but the rate vastly differs and the molecular basis for this natural variation in longevity is not well understood. This suggests that studying the aging process in exceptionally long-lived species, such as bats, will enable us to elucidate the mechanisms underlying naturally evolved longer healthspans and ultimately contribute to a greater understanding of aging biology. Relative to body mass, bats show the longest lifespans of all mammals and exhibit little signs of senescence. For this reason, bats are now being recognised as novel, relevant models to study the mechanisms of healthy aging. Compa...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs