Andy Rain / PA
In a study with worms, researchers at the University of Cologne, Germany, found that the cold triggers a process whereby damaged proteins are removed from cells.
Several of the neurodegenerative diseases that can develop as we age – including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s – are linked to the accumulation of damaged proteins. Figuring out how temperature affects this process is a significant step towards finding ways to slow or stop this deterioration.
Although it is unlikely that staying in the cold will soon be a therapeutic option, understanding the functioning of the processes that cold temperatures trigger can help us to replicate them through the use of specific treatments, reported the Science Alert.
“Extreme low temperatures are harmful, but a moderate decrease in body temperature can have beneficial effects for the organism”, wrote the researchers in their article, recently published in Nature Aging.
“Although the longevity effects associated with low temperatures Although reported more than a century ago, little is known about how cold temperature influences life and health,” they continued.
The researchers did tests with the worm Caenorhabditis elegans and with human cells grown in the laboratory, finding that colder temperatures led to the removal of tufts of proteins that accumulate in animal and cellular models of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Huntington’s disease.
This was done through structures called proteasomes, which break down protein residues, and in particular the worm version of the proteasome activator PA28γ/PSME3, found in humans. It only took a moderate drop in temperature to get the activator to work and clean up potentially harmful protein buildup.
The team also found some intelligent genetic engineering able to mark the activity of the proteasome, achieving the same result without cooling. This raises the possibility of treatments that could keep these proteasomal activators working regardless of body temperature.
“Taken together, these results show how, throughout evolution, cold has preserved its influence on proteasome regulation – with therapeutic implications for aging and age-associated diseases,” said biologist David Vilchez of the University of Cologne.
O Caenorhabditis elegans it has a lot in common with humans, including the way proteins stick together.
There is still much to discover about the relationship between colder temperatures and aging. A average internal temperature of the human body has been decreasing constantly over the decades, for example, which may have influenced the increase in life expectancy.
By looking closer and in more detail at exactly what is underpinning this relationship, the researchers hope that the PA28γ/PSME3 proteasome activator could be a pathway to healthier aging.
“We believe these results can be applied to other age-related neurodegenerative diseases,” said David Vilchez.
ZAP // 
