Aging Cell最新文献

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the elderly population. Age-related heart failure is frequently associated with energy deficits in cardiomyocytes. These cells rely on their abundant, cristae-rich mitochondria for ATP production. ATP synthase, localized along the cristae rims, is central to this process. It is presumed that its function is tightly bound to its spatial organization, but details remain unclear. Here, we explored the spatiotemporal organization of ATP synthase in senescent human iPSC-derived CM in conjunction with its functions. We found changes in the stoichiometry of F₁ and F_O subunits in senescent CM. The ratio of F_O-SU c to F₁-SU β increased. The oligomeric organization of the complex was weakened. Using single-molecule localization and tracking microscopy, we observed an increased enzyme mobility within cristae that displayed increased fenestrations. This coincided with decreased mitochondrial ATP level, increased ATP hydrolysis capacity, and a moderate increase in mitochondrial transition pore opening. Disturbed ATP production was correlated with dysregulated calcium dynamics, characterized by heightened spikes and slower cytosolic clearance. Consequently, senescent cardiomyocytes exhibited irregular autonomous and paced beating patterns. These findings indicate that, in senescent cardiomyocytes, functional decline is closely linked to disrupted ATP metabolism, driven by the aberrant organization, dynamics, and activity of ATP synthase within remodeled cristae.

The changing demography of human populations has motivated a search for interventions that promote healthy ageing, and especially for evolutionarily-conserved mechanisms that can be studied in lab systems to generate hypotheses about function in humans. Reduced Insulin/IGF signalling (IIS) is a leading example, which can extend healthy lifespan in a range of animals, but whether benefits and costs of reduced IIS vary genetically within species is under-studied. This information is critical for any putative translation. Here, in Drosophila, we test for genetic variation in lifespan response to a dominant-negative form of the insulin receptor, along with a metric of fecundity to evaluate corollary fitness costs/benefits. We also partition genetic variation between DNA variants in the nucleus (nDNA) and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), in a fully-factorial design that allows us to assess 'mito-nuclear' epistasis. We show that reduced IIS can have either beneficial or detrimental effects on lifespan, depending on the combination of mtDNA and nDNA. This suggests that, while insulin signalling has a conserved effect on ageing among species, intraspecific effects can vary genetically, and the combination of mtDNA and nDNA can act as a gatekeeper.

The geroscience hypothesis suggests that understanding mechanisms underlying aging will enable us to delay and lessen age-related disability and diseases. The role of mechanical factors has been increasingly appreciated in many aspects of the aging process. Here, we use mouse models to investigate changes in the biomechanics of the proximal pulmonary artery, lung function, and right ventricle function in aging. We found an age-related decreased capacity to store energy and increased circumferential stiffness of the proximal pulmonary artery with age that is associated with a reorientation of collagen toward the circumferential direction, decreased exercise ability, and decreased function of the lung and right ventricle. The observed compromised mechanics in the proximal pulmonary artery are consistent across multiple mouse models of accelerated aging. Furthermore, transcriptional changes in the proximal pulmonary artery indicate that aging is associated with senescence of perivascular macrophages, adventitial fibroblasts, and medial smooth muscle cells. Older pulmonary arteries increase expression of genes associated with ECM turnover (including genes in the TGFβ pathway) and increased intercellular signaling amongst perivascular macrophages, fibroblasts, and smooth muscle cells. Our results provide promising biomarkers of aging for diagnosis and potential pathways and molecular targets for antiaging therapies.

Aging impacts immune function, but the mechanisms driving age-related changes in immune cell subsets remain unclear. To explore age-dependent changes in immune cell populations, we analyzed human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from a cohort of healthy donors aged 20-82 years using a 36-color spectral flow cytometry panel focused on T cells. We identified a unique population of memory CD8 T cells, which lack CXCR3 and produce a Th2-like cytokine response, and accumulate with age. We discovered an age-dependent bias in naïve CD8 T cells toward Th2 cytokine production, accompanied by transcriptional and epigenetic changes supporting this phenotype. Moreover, health outcome association analysis linked the accumulation of these unique CXCR3- central memory CD8 T cells to asthma, chronic liver conditions, and type 2 diabetes. Together, our results support the model that an age-dependent drift in epigenetic regulation toward a Th2-like phenotype drives a pathogenic Th2-like immune population.

The elegant work by Maejima et al. recently published in Aging Cell reveals a previously unrecognized mechanism linking age-related oxytocin (OXT) decline to epigenetic remodeling, mitochondrial dysfunction, and systemic inflammation (Maejima et al. 2025). Beyond documenting this relationship, the authors demonstrate its remarkable reversibility through nasal OXT administration. These findings provide the first molecular evidence supporting what has long been proposed: that the OXT system functions as a fundamental long-term regulator of health across the entire lifespan, from early development through aging (Moberg 2024, 2003; Uvnas-Moberg 1998). The current work now gives a tantalizing glimpse into the epigenetic mechanism behind this life course regulation.

Cover legend: The cover image is based on the Research Article Oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy mutations link the RNA-binding protein HNRNPQ to autophagosome biogenesis by Hasan Ishtayeh et al., https://doi.org/10.1111/acel.13949

Recent research revealed a rejuvenation event during early development of mice. Here, by examining epigenetic age dynamics of human embryogenesis, we tested whether a similar event exists in humans. For this purpose, we developed an epigenetic clock method, the intersection clock, that utilizes bisulfite sequencing in a way that maximizes the use of informative CpG sites with no missing clock CpG sites in test samples and applied it to human embryo development data. We observed no changes in the predicted epigenetic age between cleavage stage and blastocyst stage embryos; however, a significant decrease was observed between blastocysts and cells representing the epiblast. Additionally, by applying the intersection clock to datasets spanning pre and postimplantation, we found no significant change in the epigenetic age during preimplantation stages; however, the epigenetic age of postimplantation samples was lower compared to the preimplantation stages. We further investigated the epigenetic age of primed (representing early postimplantation) and naïve (representing preimplantation) pluripotent stem cells and observed that in all cases the epigenetic age of primed cells was significantly lower than that of naïve cells. Together, our data suggest that human embryos are rejuvenated during early embryogenesis. Hence, the rejuvenation event is conserved between the mouse and human, and it occurs around the gastrulation stage in both species. Beyond this advance, the intersection clock opens the way for other epigenetic age studies based on human bisulfite sequencing datasets as opposed to methylation arrays.

Aging is a natural process associated with declined organ function and higher susceptibility to developing chronic diseases. A systemic single-cell type-based study provides a unique opportunity to understand the mechanisms behind age-related pathologies. Here, we use single-cell gene expression analysis comparing healthy young and aged human lungs from nonsmoker donors to investigate age-related transcriptional changes. Our data suggest that aging has a heterogenous effect on lung cells, as some populations are more transcriptionally dynamic while others remain stable in aged individuals. We found that monocytes and alveolar macrophages were the most transcriptionally affected populations. These changes were related to inflammation and regulation of the immune response. Additionally, we calculated the LungAge score, which reveals the diversity of lung cell types during aging. Changes in DNA damage repair, fatty acid metabolism, and inflammation are essential for age prediction. Finally, we quantified the senescence score in aged lungs and found that the more biased cells toward senescence are immune and progenitor cells. Our study provides a comprehensive and systemic analysis of the molecular signatures of lung aging. Our LungAge signature can be used to predict molecular signatures of physiological aging and to detect common signatures of age-related lung diseases.

Wu, S. K., Ariffin, J., Chian, T. S., & Picone, R. (2023). The variant senescence-associated secretory phenotype induced by centrosome amplification constitutes a pathway that activates hypoxia-inducible factor-1α. Aging Cell, 22, e13766. https://doi.org/10.1111/acel.13766.

In the published version of Wu et al (2023), the current affiliation, Mechanobiology Institute & Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore is incorrectly linked to the authors' Juliana Arrifin and Remigio Picone instead of Selwin K. Wu.

The present address should be displayed as follows:

Present address.

Selwin K. Wu, Mechanobiology Institute & Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore.