ELife: increasing acetyl coenzyme a level is expected to reverse brain aging

December 21, 2019 / Biovalley BIOON / - -- old age is the biggest risk factor of Alzheimer's disease -- when the age is over 65, the risk of suffering from this disease roughly doubles every five years At the molecular level, however, scientists are not sure what's going on in the brain as we age Pamela Maher and David Schubert of the American shack Institute of biology have previously developed experimental candidate drugs cms121 and j147, which are derivatives of plant compounds with medicinal properties When exposed to cellular stresses associated with aging and Alzheimer's disease, these two compounds allow neurons to survive Since then, they have used the two drugs selected for Alzheimer's disease in animal models to treat the disease, finding that they can improve memory and delay brain cell degeneration In addition, their experiments have revealed the mechanism of action of the two compounds, indicating that they target molecular pathways that are also important for longevity and aging Picture from eLife, 2019, DOI: 10.7554/elife.47866 Now, in a new study, Maher, researcher Antonio curris of the shack Institute of biology and colleagues have studied a group of mice that age abnormally fast Some of the mice started taking cms121 or j147 at nine months of age - the equivalent of late middle age in humans Four months later, they tested the mice for memory and behavior, and analyzed genetic and molecular markers in their brains The related research results were recently published in the Journal of eLife The title of the paper is "elevating acyl coa levels reduces aspects of brain aging" Mice given either of the two candidate drugs not only performed better on memory tests than mice without any treatment, but their brains also showed differences at the cellular and molecular levels In particular, in the process of aging, cms121 and j147 can maintain gene expression related to mitochondria in brain cells (i.e subcellular structures that generate energy in cells) Most importantly, these two compounds block the molecular changes associated with aging More detailed experiments show that the two candidate drugs affect mitochondria by increasing the level of acetyl coa In isolated brain cells, when the researchers blocked an enzyme that normally degrades acetyl CoA, or when they added additional amounts of acetyl CoA precursors, they also observed the same beneficial effects in mitochondrial and energy production These brain cells are protected from normal molecular changes associated with aging Maher and Currais are planning to test the effects of cms121 and j147 on aging of other organs in future experiments They also hope to use the results of the new study to develop new anti Alzheimer's drugs They speculate that targeting other molecules in the acyl CoA pathway may also help treat the disease (bio Com) reference: 1 Antonio Currais et al, elevating acyl coa levels reductions aspects of brain aging, eLife (2019) Doi: 10.7554/elife.47866 2 Alzheimer's drug candidates reverse browser aging, study shows https://mediaexpress.com/news/2019-12-alzheimer-drug-candidates-reverse-browser.html