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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Bytram:

Antiaging biochemical mechanism found in mouse, bat and naked mole rat cells:

Aging is an inevitable part of life, yet some species are aging very differently than others, even than very similar ones.

For example, naked mole rats, east African rodents of a size comparable to moles or mice, show a strongly delayed process of aging and live up to 30 years. Scientists from Russia, Germany and Switzerland have now confirmed a mechanism in mouse, bat and naked mole rat cells—a "mild depolarization" of the inner mitochondrial membrane—that is linked to aging: Mild depolarization regulates the creation of mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (mROS) in cells and is therefore a mechanism of the anti-aging program. In mice, this mechanism falls apart at the age of one year, while in naked mole rats, this does not occur until around 20 years. This newly confirmed mechanism is described in detail in a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[...] The research team was able to show that both biochemical mechanisms do not operate in the same intensity and efficiency in different species and tissues and at different ages: The researchers examined the hexokinases I + II and creatine kinase mechanisms in various tissues (lung, kidney, brain, skeletal muscles, heart, and others) in mice,naked mole rats, and Seba's short-tailed bats.

They found interesting differences: Mild depolarization significantly starts decreasing after one year of age in mice with negligible levels after 24 months in skeletal muscles, diaphragm, heart, brain, and spleen. In lung and kidney tissue, mild depolarization decreases to a lesser extent with aging.

"The crumbling of the anti-aging program in the cells starts after only a third of the average lifespan in mice, while the naked mole rats and Seba's short-tailed bats maintain mild depolarization and hence the suppression of mROS production up to high ages," explain co-authors Thomas Hildebrandt and Susanne Holtze from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW). "This contributes to the extraordinary longevity of these species."

Mikhail Y. Vyssokikh et al. Mild depolarization of the inner mitochondrial membrane is a crucial component of an anti-aging program, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2020). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1916414117

Original Submission