Common Dye - Key to Longevity

Basic Yellow 1, a common dye used in laboratories extended lifespan in healthy nematode worms, says study. In laboratory this dye is used to detect damaged protein in Alzheimer's disease.

The dye, also known as Thioflavin T, (ThT) increased the lifespan in healthy nematode worms by more than 50 percent and slowed the disease process in worms bred to mimic aspects of Alzheimer's. The research, conducted at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, could open new ways to intervene in aging and age-related disease.

The study highlights a process called protein homeostasis - the ability of an organism to maintain the proper structure and balance of its proteins, which are the building blocks of life. Genetic studies have long indicated that protein homeostasis is a major contributor to longevity in complex animals. Many degenerative diseases have been linked to a breakdown in the process. Buck faculty member Gordon Lithgow, who led the research, said this study points to the use of compounds to support protein homeostasis, something that ThT, did as the worms aged.

ThT works as a marker of neurodegenerative diseases because it binds amyloid plaques - the toxic aggregated protein fragments associated with Alzheimer's. In the nematodes ThT's ability to not only bind, but also slow the clumping of toxic protein fragments, may be key to the compound's ability to extend lifespan, according to Lithgow.

"We have been looking for compounds that slow aging for more than ten years and ThT is the best we have seen so far," said Lithgow.

"But more exciting is the discovery that ThT so dramatically improves nematode models of disease-related pathology as well," said Lithgow, who said the discovery brings together three crucial concepts in the search for compounds that could extend healthspan, the healthy years of life.

"ThT allows us to manipulate the aging process, it has the potential to be active in multiple disease states and it enhances the animal's innate ability to deal with changes in its proteins," added Lithgow.

The study has appeared in the online edition of Nature.

Source: ANI