Key Cellular Process In Aging Elucidated

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.”