Experimental gerontology
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Aged subjects are more likely than young to have a poor prognosis after traumatic injury. Regardless of the type of injury, from scald wound to bone fracture, aged have slower recoveries and suffer more complications than their younger counterparts. This age-dependent phenomenon may be influenced by the hyper-inflammatory state observed in the aged referred to as 'inflamm-aging.' Having elevated levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, including interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFalpha), in the circulation prior to injury may predispose the aged population to produce even higher concentrations of these factors after injury. ⋯ Evidence suggests that at physiological levels, estrogen is beneficial to the immune system. This is due, in part, to the hormone's ability to boost immunity and to attenuate aberrant production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, thus serving as a systemic anti-inflammatory agent. In this short review, an examination of the effects of estrogen on inflammatory and immune responses that are critical to survival and recovery following traumatic injury will be discussed.
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Experimental gerontology · May 2004
Aging of Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome fibroblasts is characterised by hyperproliferation and increased apoptosis.
Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome is a rare genetic disorder that mimics certain aspects of aging prematurely. Recent work has revealed that mutations in the lamin A gene are a cause of the disease. ⋯ Similarly, the proportion of cells with an abnormal or absent A-type lamina increases with age. These data provide clues as to the cellular basis for premature aging in HGPS and support the view that cellular senescence and tissue homeostasis are important factors in the normal aging process.
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Experimental gerontology · Mar 2003
Regional variability in mottled subclinical melanoderma in the elderly.
The density in melanin chromatophores becomes heterogeneous in the epidermis during the early events of photoaging. Little is known about the regional variability in the resulting mottled skin appearance on the sun-exposed parts of the body in the elderly. The relationship between these features and the dermal atrophy related to aging is also an area ripe for study. ⋯ In conclusion, infraclinical mottled melanoderma is present in all individuals after 60 years of age. This type of epidermal photoaging does not appear to be influenced in older ages. By contrast, skin laxity due to dermal aging continues to progress beyond the age of 60 years.
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Experimental gerontology · Aug 2002
The Sam and Ann Barshop Center for Longevity and Aging Studies: the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.
The Sam and Ann Barshop Center for Longevity and Aging Studies is a focal point for advanced research designed exclusively to study the genes involved in aging and the diseases of aging. The research performed at the Barshop Center is based on a solid foundation of nearly twenty-five years of aging research at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. Internationally recognized scientists in aging are now leading innovative research programs using state-of-the-art technologies in molecular and cellular biology to explore aging processes at the gene level in the four major programs that comprise the research at the Barshop Center: the Cellular Aging Program, the Invertebrate Aging Program, the Rodent Models of Aging Program, and the Human Genetics of Aging Program. ⋯ Their long-term goal is to gain the knowledge that will give rise to the development of interventions that retard or arrest the debilitating conditions associated with aging. February or March 2003 marks the groundbreaking for the first building of Barshop Center's new stand-alone facility. This is the initial step toward a $70 million, world-class research complex dedicated to the study of aging and healthy longevity.
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Experimental gerontology · Mar 2001
Comparative StudyAntioxidant status and stress resistance in long- and short-lived lines of Drosophila melanogaster.
The purpose of this study was to understand the nature of the biochemical and physiological variations between genetically different lines of Drosophila melanogaster. Selection for early or delayed reproduction has given rise to lines with substantial and heritable differences in longevity. The hypotheses tested were that either: (i) a compensatory slowing of metabolism, (ii) increased antioxidative enzyme activities, or (iii) elevated resistance to stressful conditions underlie these differences in longevity. ⋯ Long life was largely maintained under heat stress and starvation conditions, and was maintained to a lesser extent upon exposure to paraquat, a superoxide radical generator. In contrast, the 'short-lived' flies had a longer lifespan under cold stress and hyperoxia, also an inducer of radical generation. These results contradict the first two hypotheses and suggest that alleles underlying either long or short life are linked with enhanced resistance to specific kinds of stress, which may account for the preservation of these alleles in the parental population.