(ORDO NEWS) — German researchers have discovered a potential mechanism for how lower body temperature affects the rate of aging and age-related changes in protein metabolism.
Extremely low temperatures are detrimental, but a moderate decrease in body temperature has a beneficial effect on the lifespan of both cold-blooded and warm-blooded organisms, including humans.
However, until now, scientists know little about the specific mechanisms that increase life expectancy with a decrease in body temperature, which limits the application of this knowledge in practice.
To find out how cold and long life are related, researchers from the University of Cologne (Germany) studied the effect of low temperatures on the activity of proteasomes – multi-protein complexes responsible for the destruction of defective or unnecessary proteins in the cell.
Proper proteasome activity is vital for cell function, and the accumulation of large amounts of non-degradable proteins is associated with aging.
Scientists have shown that the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans, whose normal lifespan is 20 days, when kept at a temperature of 15 degrees Celsius, lifespan is extended by almost a third – up to 28-29 days.
It turned out that at low temperatures, the cell produces more activator protein PSME3, which regulates the work of proteasomes and lengthens the life of the cell.
If the work of this protein is blocked, low temperatures cease to have a beneficial effect on the activity of proteasomes, which leads to the accumulation of defective proteins in cells, which in the future can cause various age-related diseases, such as Huntington’s disease or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
Scientists have demonstrated that keeping human cell cultures at low temperatures (36 degrees Celsius) activates the human analogue of the PSME3 protein in them.
It can prolong the life of cells and slow down the aging of the whole organism.
Thus, a reduced body temperature can have a beneficial effect on the lifespan of evolutionarily distant organisms, which implies a certain general mechanism for slowing down aging.
It is also important to note that the effect achieved by lowering the temperature can be achieved by additional copies of the PSME3 protein.
This will allow the proteasomes to work more efficiently even at normal body temperature.
However, the authors of the study, published in the journal Nature Aging, insist that more research is needed before PSME3 therapy can be used to slow the aging process.
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