July 3, 2012

redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports Your Universe Online

The naked mole rat is well-known for its longer lifespan, living on average for 30 years. The East African native, when compared to humans, shows little sign of decline due to aging, maintaining high activity, bone health, reproductive capacity, and cognitive ability throughout its lifetime. Now a collaborative of researchers in Israel and the United States is working to uncover the secret to the small mammals long and very busy lifespan.

Dr. Dorothee Huchon of Tel Aviv Universitys Department of Zoology, Prof. Rochelle Buffenstein of the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, and Dr. Yael Edrey of the City College of New York are working together to determine whether the naked mole rats unusually high levels of NRG-1, a neuroprotecting protein, is behind the rodents three-decade life span. Because rodents have an 85 percent genetic similarity to humans, it may hold the key to a longer and healthier life for humans as well.

Genetic analysis comparing the mole rat with several other rodent species revealed that high levels NRG-1 in adults were linked to a longer life span. Of all the species the researchers studied, the naked mole rat had the most plentiful and enduring supply of the protein, maintaining a consistent level throughout its lifetime. It is concentrated in the part of the brain important to motor control.

Dr. Huchon, an evolutionary biologist, joined the project to lend her expertise on rodent genetics. She studied seven species of rodents, including guinea pigs, mice, and mole rats, to determine the genetic relationships between them. Her analysis revealed that the correlation between life span and NRG-1 levels was independent of evolutionary lineage meaning that it was unique to the naked mole rat, not a common trait of these rodent species.

Prof. Buffenstein and Edrey monitored NRG-1 levels in a population of naked mole rats ranging in age from one day to 26 years. They found that throughout their lives, levels of NRG-1, essential for normal brain functioning, were sustained. The protein is a neuroprotector, safeguarding the integrity of neurons, which may explain why naked mole rats are able to live so healthy and well for such a long of time.

This discovery is an important first step towards understanding how aging and the NRG-1 protein in particular functions in these interesting animals, says Dr. Huchon. Future research could reveal how NRG-1 helps to maintain neuron integrity and lead to discoveries about human aging as well.

The naked mole rat, a burrowing rodent that lives in colonies much like those of ants, has already proven to be an excellent tool for aging and biomedical research because it is resistant to cancer and maintains protein integrity in the brain despite being exposed to oxidative damage, Dr. Huchon says.

This research has been published in the journal Aging Cell.

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Could The Naked Mole Rat Hold The Secret Of Longevity?