Effect of iron and estrogen on melatonin secretion by the chicken pineal gland

Aging is a deprivation syndrome driven by a germ-soma conflict

Evolution through natural selection can be described as driven by a perpetual conflict of individuals competing for limited resources. Recently, I postulated that the shortage of resources godfathered the evolutionary achievements of the differentiation-apoptosis programming [Rev. Neurosci. 12 (2001) 217]. Unicellular deprivation-induced differentiation into germ cell-like spores can be regarded as the archaic reproduction events which were fueled by the remains of the fratricided cells of the apoptotic fruiting body. Evidence has been accumulated suggesting that conserved through the ages as the evolutionary legacy of the germ-soma conflict, the somatic loss of immortality during the ontogenetic segregation of primordial germ cells recapitulates the archaic fate of the fruiting body. In this heritage, somatic death is a germ cell-triggered event and has been established as evolutionary-fixed default state following asymmetric reproduction in a world of finite resources. Aging, on the other hand, is the stress resistance-dependent phenotype of the somatic resilience that counteracts the germ cell-inflicted death pathway. Thus, aging is a survival response and, in contrast to current beliefs, is antagonistically linked to death that is not imposed by group selection but enforced upon the soma by the selfish genes of the "enemy within". Environmental conditions shape the trade-off solutions as compromise between the conflicting germ-soma interests. Mechanistically, the neuroendocrine system, particularly those components that control energy balance, reproduction and stress responses, orchestrate these events. The reproductive phase is a self-limited process that moulds onset and progress of senescence with germ cell-dependent factors, e.g. gonadal hormones. These degenerate the regulatory pacemakers of the pineal-hypothalamic-pituitary network and its peripheral, e.g. thymic, gonadal and adrenal targets thereby eroding the trophic milieu. The ensuing cellular metabolic stress engenders adaptive adjustments of the glucose-fatty acid cycle, responses that are adequate and thus fitness-boosting under fuel shortage (e.g. during caloric restriction) but become detrimental under fuel abundance. In a Janus-faced capacity, the cellular stress response apparatus expresses both tolerogenic and mutagenic features of the social and asocial deprivation responses [Rev. Neurosci. 12 (2001) 217]. Mediated by the derangement of the energy-Ca(2+)-redox homeostatic triangle, a mosaic of dedifferentiation/apoptosis and mutagenic responses actuates the gradual exhaustion of functional reserves and eventually results in a multitude of aging-related diseases. This scenario reconciles programmed and stochastic features of aging and resolves the major inconsistencies of current theories by linking ultimate and proximate causes of aging. Reproduction, differentiation, apoptosis, stress response and metabolism are merged into a coherent regulatory network that stages aging as a naturally selected, germ cell-triggered and reproductive phase-modulated deprivation response.

Therapeutic effects of alternating current pulsed electromagnetic fields in multiple sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis is the third most common cause of severe disability in patients between the ages of 15 and 50 years. The cause of the disease and its pathogenesis remain unknown. The last 20 years have seen only meager advances in the development of effective treatments for the disease. No specific treatment modality can cure the disease or alter its long-term course and eventual outcome. Moreover, there are no agents or treatments that will restore premorbid neuronal function. A host of biological phenomena associated with the disease involving interactions among genetic, environmental, immunologic, and hormonal factors, cannot be explained on the basis of demyelination alone and therefore require refocusing attention on alternative explanations, one of which implicates the pineal gland as pivotal. The pineal gland functions as a magnetoreceptor organ. This biological property of the gland provided the impetus for the development of a novel and highly effective therapeutic modality, which involves transcranial applications of alternating current (AC) pulsed electromagnetic fields in the picotesla flux density. This review summarizes recent clinical work on the effects of transcranially applied pulsed electromagnetic fields for the symptomatic treatment of the disease.

Iron decreases the nuclear but not the cytosolic content of the neurohormone melatonin in several tissues in chicks

This paper describes the influence of iron on both nuclear and cytosolic melatonin contents in several tissues of chicks. The neurohormone melatonin was estimated by means of radioimmunoassay. Iron, administered as FeCl3, decreased the nuclear melatonin level in a variety of tissues, including brain, heart, lung, kidney, and erythrocytes (nucleated cells in chicks) but was not seen in either the liver or gut. All variations related with iron were seen in the nuclear fraction, while only in the pineal gland did the melatonin content of the cytosol change as a result of iron treatment. We also observed a day-night rhythm in the nuclear melatonin: high nuclear levels of melatonin at night and low levels during the light period. This is the first report of nuclear localization of melatonin in any avian cell.

Electron probe X-ray microanalysis of the elemental composition of the pineal gland of young adults and aged rats

Fractures of deep-frozen and freeze-dried pineal glands were analysed for elemental composition by means of X-ray microanalysis with a scanning electron microscope. The results from young adults (3 months old) were compared with those from aged animals (24 months old); significant increases in S, Ca, Al, Si, and Fe were observed in aged animals when compared to young adults. There were no significant differences with Na, Mg, Cl, K, Ti, Cr, Mn, Ni, Cu, Zn, whereas a decrease of P was observed in aged animals when compared to young adults. Whether the changes observed in elemental composition have a direct effect on the activity and production of metalloenzymes and the overall physiology of the pineal gland are discussed.