Caloric restriction, gene expression and aging

The effects of dietary restriction and aging on amyloid precursor protein and presenilin-1 mRNA and protein expression in rat brain

The objective of this study was to examine the effects of aging and long-term dietary restriction (DR) on the level of amyloid precursor protein (APP) and presenilin-1 (PS-1), proteins that are critically involved in Alzheimer's disease. Changes in mRNA and protein expression were assessed by real-time PCR and western blot analysis during aging and long-term DR in the cortex and hippocampus of 6-, 12-, 18-, and 24-month-old rats. Prominent regional changes in expression were observed in response to aging and DR. Although the hippocampus displayed significant alterations in APP mRNA and protein expression and no significant changes in PS-1 expression, an opposite pattern was observed in the cortex. DR counteracted the age-related changes in APP mRNA expression in both structures of old animals. The observed DR-induced increase in mRNA levels in the hippocampus was accompanied by an increase in the level of full-length protein APP. These results indicate that although both structures are very sensitive to aging, a specific spatial pattern of changes in APP and PS-1 occurs during aging. Furthermore, these findings provide evidence that DR can affect APP and PS-1 expression in a manner consistent with its proposed 'antiaging' effect.

Hunger does not diminish over time in mice under protracted caloric restriction

Caloric restriction (CR) is the only nongenetic manipulation known to reliably prolong life-span. Modeling suggests that humans would need to restrict their intake for many years to reap any lifespan benefits. The feasibility of such prolonged restriction may hinge on whether hunger diminishes with the time period spent restricted. We used the magnitude of hyperphagia on release from restriction as a bioassay of hunger in restricted mice. During restriction, mice develop a characteristic pattern of neuropeptide signals in the arcuate nucleus that reflect their hunger. This pattern is normalized after the postrestriction hyperphagia, validating hyperphagia as an indicator of the hunger during restriction. Mice were food restricted (80% of ad lib.) for 50 days. They initially lost weight, but then became weight stable and were maintained in CR at this lower level of energy balance for between 0 and 50 days and were then fed ad lib. for 50 days. When released onto ad lib. food, the magnitude of the hyperphagic response was independent of the prior length of CR. Hyperphagia ended when body mass was normalized. Hunger therefore did not diminish even when they were restricted for 100 days, equivalent to about 11 years in humans. The pattern of hyperphagic response suggested that signals coding body mass drive hunger during restriction, and because body mass under restriction remains depressed, this suggests that hunger would never disappear, making restriction to prolong lifespan in humans difficult to accomplish.

Having it all: historical energy intakes do not generate the anticipated trade-offs in fecundity

An axiom of life-history theory, and fundamental to our understanding of ageing, is that animals must trade-off their allocation of resources since energy and nutrients are limited. Therefore, animals cannot "have it all"--combine high rates of fecundity with extended lifespans. The idea of life-history trade-offs was recently challenged by the discovery that ageing may be governed by a small subset of molecular processes independent of fitness. We tested the "trade-off" and "having it all" theories by examining the fecundities of C57BL/6J mice placed onto four different dietary treatments that generated caloric intakes from -21 to +8.6% of controls. We predicted body fat would be deposited in relation to caloric intake. Excessive body fat is known to cause co-morbidities that shorten lifespan, while caloric restriction enhances somatic protection and increases longevity. The trade-off model predicts that increased fat would be tolerated because reproductive gain offsets shortened longevity, while animals on a restricted intake would sacrifice reproduction for lifespan extension. The responses of body fat to treatments followed our expectations, however, there was a negative relationship between reproductive performance (fecundity, litter mass) and historical intake/body fat. Our dietary restricted animals had lower protein oxidative damage and appeared able to combine life-history traits in a manner contrary to traditional expectations by having increased fecundity with the potential to have extended lifespans.