In this study we tested our hypothesis (and preliminary observations) that early-life conditions may determine in part the later sex differences in adult lifespan. We found that such variables as (1) father's age at person's conception, (2) parental lifespan, and (3) month of birth, have larger effects on adult lifespan (life expectancy at age 30) in females rather than males. Daughters born to...

Many ectotherms exhibit striking latitudinal gradients in lifespan. However, it is unclear whether lifespan gradients in distantly related taxa share a common mechanistic explanation. We compiled data on geographic variation in lifespan in ectotherms from around the globe to determine how much of this intraspecific variation in lifespan may be explained by temperature using the simple predictio...

The water vole (Arvicola amphibius) in the forest-steppe of West Siberia is known to have wide fluctuations in abundance. These fluctuations are accompanied by changes in birth and death rates, sex-age structure of the population, and individual morphophysiological and behavioral characteristics of the animals. Survival of the animals depends on season, phase of population cycle, and sex. Based...

Neurons in mammals do not undergo replicative aging, and, in absence of pathologic conditions, their lifespan is limited only by the maximum lifespan of the organism. Whether neuronal lifespan is determined by the strain-specific lifetime or can be extended beyond this limit is unknown. Here, we transplanted embryonic mouse cerebellar precursors into the developing brain of the longer-living Wi...

Evolutionary responses to selection can be complicated when there is substantial nonadditivity, which limits our ability to extrapolate from simple models of selection to population differentiation and speciation. Studies of Drosophila melanogaster indicate that lifespan and the rate of senescence are influenced by many genes that have environment- and sex-specific effects. These studies also d...

Lifespan is a biological process regulated by several genetic pathways. One strategy to investigate the biology of aging is to study animals that harbor mutations in components of age-regulatory pathways. If these mutations perturb the function of the age-regulatory pathway and therefore alter the lifespan of the entire organism, they provide important mechanistic insights. Another strategy to ...

Electrolyzed-reduced water (ERW) scavenges reactive oxygen species and is a powerful anti-oxidant. A positive correlation between oxidative stress and aging has been proved in many model organisms. In Caenorhabditis elegans, many long-lived mutants showed reduced fertility as a trade off against longevity phenotype. We aimed to study the eff ect of ERW on oxidative stress, fertility and lifespa...

BACKGROUND This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of rhizome powder from the herb Rhodiola rosea, a traditional Western Ukraine medicinal adaptogen, on lifespan and age-related physiological functions of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. RESULTS Flies fed food supplemented with 5.0 mg/ml and 10.0 mg/ml of R. rosea rhizome powder had a 14% to 17% higher median lifespan, whereas ...