Urine test for detecting aging

Researchers find that a substance indicating oxidative damage increases in urine as people get older. Aging Neuroscience described a way to measure levels of this marker in human urine samples. The new marker potentially provides a method to measure how much human body has aged-biological rather than chronological age.

Everyone born in the same year has the same chronological age,  the bodies of different people age at different rates. This means that the risk of many diseases increases with age, the link between age in years and our health and lifespan is relatively loose. Many people enjoy long lives, relatively free of disease, while others suffer chronic illness and premature death.

The rate of cellular damage can vary from person to person, and may be dictated by genetics, lifestyle and the environment we live in. This cellular damage may be a more accurate indication of  biological age than the number of years. Measuring biological age could predict the risk of developing age-related diseases and death.

One mechanism thought to underlie biological aging involves a molecule vital to human survival- oxygen-the free radical theory of aging. Oxygen by-products produced during normal metabolism can cause oxidative damage to biomolecules in cells, such as DNA and RNA," explains Jian-Ping Cai, a researcher involved in the study. "As we age, we suffer increasing oxidative damage , and so the levels of oxidative markers increase in our body."

One such marker, with the catchy name of 8-oxo-7,8-dihydroguanosine-or 8-oxoGsn for short-results from oxidation of a crucial molecule in our cells called RNA. In previous studies in animals, Cai and colleagues found that 8-oxoGsn levels increase in urine with age. To see if this is true for humans as well, the researchers measured 8-oxoGsn in urine samples from 1,228 Chinese residents aged 2-90 years old, using a rapid analysis technique called ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography. Age-dependent increase in urinary 8-oxoGsn in participants 21 years old and older."

Therefore, urinary 8-oxoGsn is promising as a new marker of aging. Levels of 8-oxoGsn were roughly the same between men and women, except in post-menopausal women, who showed higher levels. This may have been caused by the decrease in estrogen levels that happens during menopause, as estrogen is known to have anti-oxidant effects. Urinary 8-oxoGsn may reflect the real condition of human body better than chronological age, and may help us to predict the risk of age-related diseases.
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Gene expression for youthful skin

Some individuals' skin appears more youthful than their chronologic age. Although many people try to achieve this with creams, lotions, injections, and surgeries, new research indicates that increased expression of certain genes may be the key to intrinsically younger looking and younger behaving skin. It's not just the genes you are born with, but which ones turn on and off over time,wide range of processes in the skin affected by aging, and specific gene expression patterns in women who appear younger than their chronologic age.

Reseachers collected and integrated data at the molecular, cellular, and tissue levels from the sun-exposed skin (face and forearm) and sun-protected skin (buttocks) of  white women between 20 to 70 years. As part of the study, the team looked for gene expression patterns common in women who appeared years younger than their chronologic age.The physical appearance of facial skin was captured through digital images and analysis. Skin samples were processed for analysis and saliva samples were collected for genotyping.

The analyses revealed progressive changes from the 20s to the 70s in pathways related to oxidative stress , energy metabolism, senescence (aging) and skin barrier. These changes were accelerated in the 60s and 70s. Comparing sun-exposed and sun-protected skin samples revealed that certain genetic changes are likely due to photoaging. The gene expression patterns from the women in the study who were younger appearing were similar to those in women who were actually younger in age. These women had increased activity in genes associated with basic biologic processes, including DNA repair, cell replication, response to oxidative stress, and protein metabolism.

Women with exceptionally youthful-appearing facial skin in older age groups also had higher expression of genes associated with mitochondrial structure and metabolism, overall epidermal structure, and barrier function in their facial epidermal samples, as well as dermal matrix production.A better understanding of the genes associated with youthful-appearing skin may point to new strategies to enhance factors that slow the skin's aging process. This work also confirmed that ultraviolent (UV) exposure is a main driver and accelerator of skin aging.
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