Long-lived worms and aging

Aging in a Long-Lived Clonal Tree

From bacteria to multicellular animals, most organisms exhibit declines in survivorship or reproductive performance with increasing age ("senescence"). Evidence for senescence in clonal plants, however, is scant. During asexual growth, we expect that somatic mutations, which negatively impact sexual fitness, should accumulate and contribute to senescence, especially among long-lived clonal plan...

Insulin resistance and cognitive aging in long-lived and short-lived mice.

To the Editor: In a recent Future History article in this Journal, Rasgon and Jarvik (1) suggested that insulin resistance may facilitate the onset of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and may provide a mechanistic link between affective disorders and AD. In this context, it may be interesting to examine the association between alterations in insulin signaling and in cognitive aging in mice with major, ...

Ants as Naturally Long-lived Insect Models for Aging

Heat shock proteins in long-lived worms and mice with insulin/insulin-Like signaling mutations

Heat shock proteins (HSPs) have proven to be effective tools for extending invertebrate lifespan, and in C. elegans daf-2 mutants, longevity resulting from loss of insulin/insulin-like signals is at least partly dependent upon elevated HSP expression. In mice, inhibition of the orthologous growth hormone/insulin-like growth factor I (GH/IGF-I) pathway has similar pro-longevity effects. A recent...

The Plasticity of Aging: Insights from Long-Lived Mutants

Mutations in genes affecting endocrine signaling, stress responses, metabolism, and telomeres can all increase the life spans of model organisms. These mutations have revealed evolutionarily conserved pathways for aging, some of which appear to extend life span in response to sensory cues, caloric restriction, or stress. Many mutations affecting longevity pathways delay age-related disease, and...