Today, tomorrow, learn English naturally. 天天自然学英语
Anti-Aging Breakthrough: Detoxing Body of Harmful Fat By-Products To Extend Lifespan
Scientists from the University of Virginia (UVA) have identified a promising approach to delay aging by detoxifying the body of glycerol and glyceraldehyde, harmful by-products of fat that naturally accumulate over time.
The new findings come from UVA researcher Eyleen Jorgelina O’Rourke, PhD, and her team, who are seeking to identify the mechanisms driving healthy aging and longevity. Their new work suggests a potential way to do so by reducing glycerol and glyceraldehyde’s health-draining effects.
"The discovery was unexpected. We went after a very well-supported hypothesis that the secret to longevity was the activation of a cell-rejuvenating process named autophagy and ended up finding an unrecognized mechanism of health and lifespan extension,” said O’Rourke, of UVA’s Department of Biology and the UVA School of Medicine’s Department of Cell Biology. “An exciting aspect of the discovery is that the key to switch on this longevity mechanism is the activation of two enzymes that are very well studied because of their role in ethanol detoxification. [Ethanol is the alcohol contained in beer and bourbon]. This existing knowledge greatly facilitates our search for drugs that can specifically activate this anti-aging process.”
Anti-Aging Discovery
In their search for the secrets to slow down aging, O’Rourke and her graduate student Abbas Ghaddar and postdoc Vinod Mony turned to microscopic worms called C. elegans. These soil dwellers share more than 70% of our genes and are an invaluable tool for biomedical research; two Nobel prizes in medicine were awarded to discoveries made using this worm exclusively.
Prior aging research in worms, mice and human cells made O’Rourke and others in the field suspect that the key to extending lifespan was to activate autophagy, a process that renews broken and old parts in our cells. But O’Rourke and her collaborators were surprised to find that wasn’t necessary – the scientists improved the worms’ health and lifespan by 50% with no increase in autophagy at all.
They did this by capitalizing on a mechanism they discovered and named AMAR, the Sanskrit word for immortality. AMAR, in this instance, stands for “Alcohol and aldehyde-dehydrogenase Mediated Anti-aging Response.” In short, the scientists found that they could prompt an anti-aging response by putting the spurs to a particular gene, adh-1. Doing so prompted the gene to produce more of an enzyme, alcohol dehydrogenase, that prevented the toxicity caused by glycerol and, indirectly, glyceraldehyde. The result was that the worms lived longer, healthier lives.
Findings in lab models such as worms and mice don’t always hold true in people, of course. So the researchers took several more steps to see if their lead was as promising as it appeared. First, they confirmed that the enzyme had similar beneficial effects on lifespan in another lab model, yeast. Then they scoured through research looking at gene activity in creatures, including humans, who had undergone fasting or calorie restriction because both fasting and calorie restriction are known to extend healthspan and lifespan. Sure enough, the scientists found increased levels of the anti-aging enzymes in all the mammals tested, including in humans.
The scientists suspect that our levels of glycerol and glyceraldehyde naturally increase over time because they are toxic byproducts of fat, which we store more of as we age. Thus, AMAR may offer a way to head off the fat-derived toxicity, extend the number of years we live in good health, and maybe help us shed some extra pounds, too.
“We hope to attract interest in developing therapeutics that target AMAR,” said O’Rourke, who is part of UVA’s Robert M. Berne Cardiovascular Research Center. “With age-related diseases currently being the major health burden for patients, their families and the healthcare system, targeting the process of aging itself would be most effective way to reduce this burden and increase the number of years of independent healthy living for all of us.”
注释：
detoxify: v
表示" 使解毒；使戒毒"，means "remove poison from"，如：Seaweed baths can help to detoxify the body. 海藻浴能够帮助解除身上的毒素。
glycerol: n
表示" [化]甘油"，如：Glycerol is a constituent of all fats and phospholipids. 甘油是所有脂肪和磷脂的组成部分。
glyceraldehyde: n
表示"甘油醛"，means "a sweet crystalline aldehyde formed by the breakdown of sugars"，如：a syrupy acid obtained by oxidation of glycerol or glyceraldehyde. 一种浆状的酸，由甘油和甘油醛氧化后获得。
rejuvenate: v
表示" 变年轻"，means "make younger or more youthful"，如：The mountain air will rejuvenate you. 山上的空气将使你变得年轻。
autophagy: n
表示"自体吞噬（细胞被产生于同一细胞的酶所消化的过程）"，如：Autophagy also plays an important role in virus replication. 细胞自噬也在病毒复制方面扮演了重要角色。
enzyme: n
表示" 酶"，如：The worm has an protective * enzyme. 这种虫子有一种保护酶。
ethanol: n
表示" 乙醇"，如：These can use either gasoline or ethanol. 能用汽油也可以用酒精
detoxification: n
表示" 解毒"，means "treatment for poisoning by neutralizing the toxic properties"，如：Whilst the detoxification requires energy, slow decay may still occur.由于解毒作用需要能量，所以缓慢的腐朽仍然会发生。
bourbon: n
表示"波旁威士忌"，means "whiskey distilled from a mash of corn and malt and rye and aged in charred oak barrels"，如：Give me a shot of bourbon whisky.请给我一杯波旁威士忌。
elegans: n
表示" 线虫"，如：As with many biologists, his creature of choice is a worm called Caenorhabditis elegans. 在许多生物学家看来，他所选择的生物体是秀丽隐杆线虫。
aldehyde: n
表示" 醛；"，如：This reaction involves disproportionation of the aldehyde. 这个反应就是醛的歧化作用。
dehydrogenase: n
表示" [化]脱氢酶"，如：The dye is reduced by dehydrogenase enzymes released by viable tumour cells.染料被存活的肿瘤细胞放出的脱氢酶所还原。
aldehyde-dehydrogenase: n
表示"乙醛脱氢酶"，如：The activity of aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALD6) of saccharomyces cerevisiaes controls the content of acetic acid in beer. 酿酒酵母中乙醛脱氢酶(ALD6)活性的高低控制着啤酒中乙酸含量的多少。
therapeutics: n
表示" 治疗学"，如：For practicality, oxygen therapeutics also excel. 从实用的角度来看，氧气疗法也更具优势。
中文简要说明：
美国弗吉尼亚大学 ( UVA ) 的科学家们，已经确定了一种很有前途的抗老方法，以清除脂肪的有害副产品，也就是甘油与甘油醛，能够延长细胞的活力，相当于推迟衰老。
每日科学(Scitech Daily)报导， UVA大学研究员欧洛克博士( Eyleen Jorgelina O'Rourke )的团队，发现甘油和甘油醛的活性太大，对健康会持续损害，因此清除掉这种脂肪副产品，应该能保持健康。欧洛克博士说：「我们是依循了一个已得到充分支持的假设：长寿的秘诀是维持新陈代谢。这是个老生常谈，核心的作法是通顺免疫细胞对老旧细胞的清理，但是我们在实验的过程中，有了意想不到的新发现，与原先的猜想有些不同，但我们确定它是一种的健康和延寿机制。」
研究队以秀丽隐杆线虫（Caenorhabditis elegans）为实验，这是一种土壤里常见的微生物，科学界已经熟悉它70% 以上基因的功能，因此开开关关它的基因是很容易的。欧洛克的团队原本是要持续启动线虫的自噬细胞，但是在操作的过程中，活化了两种酶。在实验过程中却发现，线虫的健康和寿命提高了 50% ，而自噬细胞数量根本没有增加。
什么酶这么重要? 科学家将这两段酶命名为 AMAR ，原意是「酒精和醛脱氢酶」，因为它在解除酒精上有很大的作用，但同时，科学家也是刻意取名的，因为AMAR在梵语是「不朽」的意思。总之呢，刺激特定基因adh-1，可以生产更多的AMAR酶，它不只是解酒，也可以防止甘油和甘油醛引起的间接毒性。结果是线虫活得更长、更健康。
当然，线虫和人类有极大的差距，因此研究人员又要其他的对照实验。首先，他们要证实AMAR酶对是否也对哺乳动物有延寿的效果。初期的实验是对小鼠在禁食与卡路里限制，结果发现，卡路里限制下的哺乳动物，其抗衰老酶的浓度都有所提高。
科学家们因此怀疑，甘油和甘油醛可能是衰老的原因之一，它们的浓度会随着时间自然增加，因为它们是脂肪的有毒副产品，随着年龄的增长，我们会储存更多脂肪，而甘油和甘油醛也会跟着堆积。因此，AMAR 可能提供一种方法，来阻止脂肪衍生物的毒性，除了帮助我们减掉一些额外的体重，也降低了对细胞的伤害。
显然，自然的手段是健康饮食，少吃多动，自然也有延寿的疾果。但另一方面，科学家也在开发针对 AMAR 的疗法的兴趣，可能利用补充剂的形式，帮助代谢甘油和甘油醛，或许是一种保持健康、减缓衰老的方法。
留言微信公众号《自然学英语LearnNaturally》，可咨询更多: