Our brain is the decision-making center for all bodily functions. It maintains communication with the rest of the body, mainly through nerve impulses.
But as we age, the infrastructure that carries these communication signals and the environment around them deteriorates, causing more and more ‘disruptions’ – that’s part of growing older. In this process, our organs and tissues begin to miss the signals needed to stay alive.
Previously, scientists associated special signaling chemicals that ensure communication between our brain and fat tissue with aging in mice. Now they decided to study them more closely.
Researchers allowed a group of rodents to age “naturally” with just one twist: They tuned neurons that are at the beginning of the route from the brain to fat tissue so that they stay active.
These cells, DMHPpp1r17, are hidden in the hypothalamus of our brain, an important communication channel between our nervous system and the body’s hormonal system.
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Unbelievable, the new study found that mice with activated neurons lived 60 to 70 days longer than normal control mice, which died within the typical lifespan of about 1,000 days for laboratory mice.
Mice with activated neurons also had thicker, shinier fur and became more active as they got older, suggesting they also stayed healthy longer.
“When DMHPpp1r17 neurons are turned on, they can activate our body’s fight-or-flight response, our sympathetic nervous system, using the Ppp1r17 molecule. This taps into our body’s reserves of white adipose tissue, which releases a protein called eNAMPT, which in turn regulates the hypothalamic neurons, completing the circuit,” the researchers write.
Ppp1r17 is also well conserved across a variety of vertebrate species, including humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, rats, mice, cattle, rabbits, chickens, and zebras. This suggests that Ppp1r17 serves some important functions throughout evolution.
With less activity, the nerves that run through our fatty tissues begin to break down, meaning even less of the eNAMPT enzyme is produced, causing even fewer hypothalamic neurons to activate, creating a self-reproducing system of decline.
Many details remain to be determined, including whether the eNAMPT enzyme acts directly on hypothalamic neurons or whether there are other steps in between.
Scientists are also trying to find out whether this feedback loop affects communication between other types of tissue in our body, such as skeletal muscle.