autophagy tagged posts

Resistance Training enhances Recycling Capacity in Muscles

A new study at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland reports that autophagosome content is increased by resistance training in previously untrained young men, but this response may be blunted by aging. Credit: University of Jyväskylä

A new study at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland reports that autophagosome content is increased by resistance training in previously untrained young men, but this response may be blunted by aging. Credit: University of Jyväskylä

A new study at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland reports that autophagosome content is increased by resistance training in previously untrained young men, but this response may be blunted by aging. Autophagy is a major catabolic route in cells responsible for the clearance of proteins and organelles. Pathological levels of autophagy are associated with muscle wasting, but physiological levels are important for cellular recycling.

In the present study, indicators of autophagy and unfolded protein response (UPR), which is another system for maintaining c...

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It’s not just what you Eat, it’s what’s Eating You

Aging Study, C. elegans, Worms

With disease, when you decrease autophagy (a garbage disposal-like process where cells “eat” debris they produce) the disease process is exacerbated and when you increase it you get the opposite effect. Aggregation of polyglutamine expansion protein is a hallmark of Huntington’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases. The picture shows that there are more aggregates of green fluorescence protein-labelled polyglutamine expansion protein in autophagy deficient worms (bottom) compared to normal worms (top).

Restricting how much you eat without starving has been shown to robustly extend lifespan in more than 20 species of animals including primates. How this works is still unclear...

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Type of Sugar may Treat Atherosclerosis, mouse study shows

A new study shows that a type of natural sugar called trehalose triggers an important cellular housekeeping process in immune cells that helps treat atherosclerotic plaque. The image shows a cross section of a mouse aorta, the main artery in the body, with a large plaque. Straight red lines toward the upper left are the wall of the aorta. Yellow areas are where housekeeping cells called macrophages are incinerating cellular waste. Credit: Ismail Sergin

A new study shows that a type of natural sugar called trehalose triggers an important cellular housekeeping process in immune cells that helps treat atherosclerotic plaque. The image shows a cross section of a mouse aorta, the main artery in the body, with a large plaque. Straight red lines toward the upper left are the wall of the aorta. Yellow areas are where housekeeping cells called macrophages are incinerating cellular waste. Credit: Ismail Sergin

Trehalose triggers cellular housekeeping in artery-clogging. Researchers have long sought ways to harness the body’s immune system to treat disease, especially cancer...

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Two Zika Proteins responsible for Microcephaly identified

Zika virus

Transmission electron microscope image of negative-stained, Fortaleza-strain Zika virus (red), isolated from a microcephaly case in Brazil. (Microscopy/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health)

First study to examine Zika infection in human neural stem cells from second-trimester fetuses. USC researchers have tracked down 2 Zika proteins potentially responsible for thousands of microcephaly cases in Brazil and elsewhere – taking one small step toward preventing Zika-infected mothers from birthing babies with abnormally small heads.The Zika virus contains 10 proteins, but only NS4A and NS4B matter when it comes to microcephaly...

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