I've been discussing this in the Bio section but now we need the supplements experts to Join in:
Autophagy is a cellular process that mediates the degradation of intracelular components.
It is over activated during starvation (e.x. calorie restriction) when the body searches for any energy source and building blocks it can find. When the signal of starvation is received the body (over) activates autophagy in all it's forms, Micro, Micro and Chaperone mediated, to sequester cytoplasm, cell organelles, damaged protein. The captured carbage is then broken down to produce usefull amino acids, fatty acids, sugars etc. Those are then used to combat the starvation problem. In the process your organs and tissues are cleaned of garbage, restoring optimal function.
Normal autophagy function declines with age leading to intracellular accumulation of junk:
http://www.jbc.org/c...ct/275/40/31505
At least in yeast, activating Chaperone Mediated Autophagy has life extension properties, While Macro and Micro Autophagy doesn't
http://www.landesbio...gy/article/6556
The cuervo papers demonstarted the power of activating chaparone mediated autophagy to restore the mouse liver to a more youthfull state:
http://blog.wired.co...r-problems.html
Sorry I liked the mouse picture
This is the paper:
http://www.scribd.co...epatic-Function
So the question is how can we maintain healthy autophagy function. Or how can we activate autophagy function to get rid of the intracell junk that we have allready accumulated?
It appears there are FDA aproved drugs that can do this, but are used for other stuff right now.
The article:
"They screened 256 existing drugs in use for other medical conditions and found several which induce autophagy. Two drugs are of particular interest, verapamil and clonidine. Verapamil is prescribed for high blood pressure and many people take it for years. It is an L-type calcium channel antagonist and stimulates autophagy by reducing the influx of calcium into cells. Calcium handling is known to be a problem in HD. "
http://hdlighthouse....ticleNumber=559
This is the paper:
http://www.ncbi.nlm....Pubmed_RVDocSum
I have the full paper.
This is exciting. Now the question...are there supplements that would induce autophagy. Most of the FDA aproved drugs have side effects.
Edited by Mind, 04 August 2009 - 06:08 PM.