Dietary restriction can slow brain aging and prolong lifespan. It was earlier established that dietary restriction is beneficial to health and could make an adult to live longer, but it remained unknown how that happens.
In a study conducted by the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, researchers discovered a gene known as OXR1 which is essential for the lifespan extension when there is dietary restriction. The gene has also been linked to healthy brain aging.
The authors “found that mtd/OXR1 expression declined with age and it interacts with the retromer, which regulates trafficking of proteins and lipids. The loss of mtd/OXR1 destabilized the retromer, causing improper protein trafficking and endolysosomal defects”.
The mtd/OXR1 genes maintain the retromer with dietary restriction and thus slows the aging of the brain, the study says.
It is the mtd/OXR1 that preserves the function of retromer. The papers extrapolate that when people eat less, proteins are being sorted properly in their cells, as the cells promotes the expression of OXR1. It was further speculated that overexpression of OXR1 may extend lifespan.
Further Reading
- Buck Institute for Research on Aging. (2024, January 11). Scientists identify how dietary restriction slows brain aging and increases lifespan. ScienceDaily. Retrieved January 14, 2024 from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/01/240111162625.htm
- Wilson, K.A., Bar, S., Dammer, E.B. et al. OXR1 maintains the retromer to delay brain aging under dietary restriction. Nat Commun 15, 467 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-44343-3
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