A groundbreaking study conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan has unveiled that fruit flies that observe dead fruit flies have significantly shorter lifespans. Moreover, the study has successfully identified the precise neurons that control the aging process in these fruit flies. This discovery holds immense potential in developing targeted therapies that can mitigate the impact of aging on humans. The study was published in PLOS Biology, an open-access journal, and was led by Christi M. Gendron and Tuhin S. Chakraborty from the Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology and Geriatrics Center at the University of Michigan.
“Aging is a complex phenomenon influenced by both genetic and environmental factors. Although we know that perceptual experiences can impact aging, the mechanisms behind it largely remain a mystery,” stated the researchers in a press release.
The researchers previously reported that “death perception” in fruit flies accelerates the aging process when they encounter deceased fruit flies. They also identified a specific serotonin receptor that plays a crucial role in this phenomenon.
According to co-author Scott Pletcher, the identified neurons “significantly modulate the rate of aging in response to environmental conditions and experiences.”
Exposure to an abundance of dead flies resulted in aversion and various physiological changes, including increased mortality, in live flies. Using experiments on fruit flies, the researchers found that a specific group of neurons in the ellipsoid body region of the brain exhibited heightened activity upon exposure to dead flies. By silencing different ring neurons in this region, they determined that two types of neurons, R2 and R4, were essential for the observed effects. Furthermore, the key factor was the serotonin receptor 5-HT2A located on these neurons.
Interestingly, artificially activating these neurons led to fruit flies experiencing shorter lifespans, even without exposure to dead flies. This breakthrough in understanding how neural circuits regulate aging opens possibilities for the development of targeted drug therapies that could potentially slow down the aging process in humans.
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