Anti-aging and mortality timer

On November 25, a very interesting study was published in the journal Nature Aging in which researchers give us a clue as to how we could slow down cellular aging: it seems to be related to the size of the nucleolus, a small structure within the nucleus of the cell. This finding, based on research conducted on yeast (an organism surprisingly similar to humans in many cellular aspects) opens the door to possible treatments to prolong human life, both in health and in age-related diseases. In addition, it could also help us better understand how much time a cell has left before dying.

The key is to understand how aging is the greatest risk factor for diseases such as cancer, heart problems and neurodegenerative diseases. In this way, instead of treating each disease separately, it would be more effective to find a treatment or supplement that delays aging and prevents the molecular damage that causes them, keeping our cells younger for longer.

It has been observed that nucleoli tend to expand with age. However, some anti-aging strategies such as caloric restriction keep nucleoli smaller. Interestingly, researchers found that nucleoli do not expand steadily throughout the life of the cells. In this study, it was observed that for most of the life of the yeast, the nucleoli remained small; but, once they reached a certain size, they began to grow rapidly. This change caused the nucleoli to expand to a much larger size. After reaching this point, cells only managed to survive, on average, five more cell divisions.

Ultimately, reaching this size threshold in the nucleolus seems to act as a "mortality timer," marking the beginning of the final moments in a cell's life.