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Posted on May 05, 2015, 6 a.m.
“Brain housekeeping” mechanism may be essential approach to address aging-related neurodegenerative diseases.
With the steady rise in the aging population globally arrives an associated increase in the number of cases of aging-related neurodegenerative diseases. Claudia Cavadas, from the University of Coimbra (Portugal), and colleagues have identified that autophagy – the mechanism that recycles unwanted molecules within cells – is a key cellular process as a control center for aging. The investigators report that neuropeptide Y controls the process, and posit that by “modulation of hypothalamic [neuropeptide Y] levels may be considered a potential strategy to produce protective effects against hypothalamic impairments associated with age and to delay aging.”
Aveleira CA, Botelho M, Carmo-Silva S, Pascoal JF, Ferreira-Marques M, Nobrega C, Cortes L, Valero J, Sousa-Ferreira L, Alvaro AR, Santana M, Kugler S, Pereira de Almeida L, Cavadas C. “Neuropeptide Y stimulates autophagy in hypothalamic neurons.” Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2015 Mar 16. pii: 201416609.