Skip to main content

A new study funded by the Academy of Finland and the Turku Collegium for Science and Medicine manipulated prenatal exposure to maternal thyroid hormones using egg injection in an avian model

Image
By
The environment provided by the mother during embryo development has major consequences on later-life health and lifespan. This can arise through effects on cellular ageing which is often estimated with the length of telomeres. Telomeres are the protective end caps of chromosomes and their length is a marker of 'biological age'.

While telomeres normally shorten with age, short telomeres at a given age predict higher disease and mortality risks. Prenatal exposure to maternal stress hormones as well as instability during embryo development have previously been found to result in short telomeres, i.e. accelerated cellular ageing.

A new study funded by the Academy of Finland and the Turku Collegium for Science and Medicine manipulated prenatal exposure to maternal thyroid hormones using egg injection in an avian model.
"The telomere biology of humans is closer to the telomere biology of birds than those of traditional laboratory models. In both human and birds, telomere length is measured in a minimally-invasive way from small blood samples," says Collegium Researcher Antoine Stier from the University of Turku (Finland), the main author of the research article.

While authors of the study had reasons to expect shorter telomeres in chicks born from eggs injected with thyroid hormones, they were quite surprised to find that those chicks actually exhibited longer telomeres right after birth.
"Based on the natural decline of telomere length observed with age in the same collared flycatcher population, we estimated that chicks hatching from thyroid hormones injected eggs were approximately 4 years 'younger at birth' than chicks hatched from control eggs," adds Collegium Researcher Suvi Ruuskanen.
Although the molecular mechanisms underlying such effects remain to be discovered, the new findings suggest that prenatal thyroid hormones might have a role in setting the 'biological age' at birth.

"Considering the interest and controversies surrounding gene therapy trials in humans to elongate telomeres as an anti-ageing therapy, this discovery opens potential avenues to better understand the influence of telomere elongation in animal models," Stier says.
The study was conducted on a long-term monitored population of wild collared flycatcher breeding in Gotland island, and relied on extensive collaborations with the University of Uppsala (Sweden), Lyon, Glasgow and Aberdeen
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Beer production

By
Brewing  is the production of  beer  by steeping  a  starch  source (commonly cereal  grains, the most popular of which is  barley ) [1]  in water and  fermenting  the resulting sweet liquid with  yeast . It may be done in a  brewery  by a commercial brewer, at home by a  homebrewer , or by a variety of traditional methods such as communally by the  indigenous peoples in Brazil  when making  cauim . [2]  Brewing has taken place since around the 6th millennium BC, and archaeological evidence suggests that emerging civilizations including  ancient Egypt [3] and  Mesopotamia  brewed beer. [4]  Since the nineteenth century the  brewing industry  has been part of most western economies. The basic ingredients of beer are water and a  fermentable  starch source such as  malted barley . Most beer is fermented with a  brewer's yeast  and flavoured with  hops . [5]  Less widely used starch sources include  millet ,  sorghum and  cassava . [6]  Secondary sources ( adjuncts ), such as
Post a Comment
Read more

When to see a doctor If you can't 😴sleep In over night or traveld sleep.you may be suffring from inosomia know more about inosomia

By
What is Insomnia? If you can't sleep, you may be wondering if you have insomnia. Insomnia is a complicated condition. What is the definition of insomnia? According to guidelines from a physician group,  insomnia  is difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep, even when a person has the chance to do so. People with insomnia can feel dissatisfied with their sleep and usually experience one or more of the following symptoms : fatigue, low energy, difficulty concentrating, mood disturbances, and decreased performance in work or at school. How long does insomnia last? Insomnia may be characterized based on its duration.  Acute insomnia  is brief and often happens because of life circumstances (for example, when you can't fall asleep the night before an exam, or after receiving stressful or bad news). Many people may have experienced this type of passing sleep disruption, and it tends to resolve without any treatment. Chronic insomnia  is disrupted sleep t
Post a Comment
Read more

Mechanism of Action of Hydroxychloroquine as an Antirheumatic Drug

By
Mechanism of Action of Hydroxychloroquine as an Antirheumatic Drug Abstract The antimalarial agents chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine have been used widely for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus. These compounds lead to improvement of clinical and laboratory parameters, but their slow onset of action distinguishes them from glucocorticoids and nonsteroidal antiinflammatory agents. Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine increase pH within intracellular vacuoles and alter processes such as protein degradation by acidic hydrolases in the lysosome, assembly of macromolecules in the endosomes, and posttranslation modification of proteins in the Golgi apparatus. It is proposed that the antirheumatic properties of these compounds results from their interference with "antigen processing" in macrophages and other antigen-presenting cells. Acidic cytoplasmic compartments are required for the antigenic protein to be digested and for the pept
1 comment
Read more