Dopaminergenic Neurons Regulate Longevity in Flies

An interesting commentary here notes the extended life span in flies that results from the upregulation of the Mask gene in dopaminergenic neurons only. This is accompanied by extended reproductive life span as well, indicating an overall improvement in health along with extended life. In short-lived species there are many examples of this sort of single gene alteration that results in overall improvement, demonstrating that the processes of evolution do not optimize for life span. Should we expect to find analogous single gene alterations in humans? That question is complicated by the fact that long-lived species such as our own exhibit life spans that are much less plastic in response to metabolic and environmental factors when compared to the life spans of short-lived species. Mice can live 40% longer in response to calorie restriction, 70% longer in response to growth hormone receptor knockout, but in humans neither of those states appears to result in more than a few years gained. Dopaminergic neurons are critical modulators for essential brain functions such as learning and memory, reward and addiction, motor control, and metabolism. My recent work identified a novel function of dopaminergic neurons in regulating aging and longevity in flies. I demonstrated that overexpressing the putative scaffolding protein Mask in small subsets of dopaminergic neurons significantly extends the lifespan in flies. Interestingly, the prolonged lifespan of the Mask-overexpressin...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs