Antioxidants Slow Age-Related Immune System Decline
Diets rich in antioxidants slow the damage done to immune systems due to aging, according to a recent study.
Investigators from The Scripps Research Institute focused their research on the thymus—the organ that produces T lymphocytes (T cells)—that controls the immune response in the body.
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According to researchers, the thymus atrophies quickly as it ages, which slows down T cell production and keeps it from responding to vaccines or new pathogens.
After developing a computational method to examine gene activity in 2 types of thymus cells in mice (lymphoid cells and stromal cells), researchers tested the antioxidants impact in the immune system by increasing catalase levels in genetically altered animal models. In turn, the size of the thymus could be maintained for a longer duration.
“Genetic complementation of catalase in stromal cells diminished atrophy, as did chemical antioxidants, thus providing a mechanistic link between antioxidants, metabolism, and normal immune function,” said the authors of the study.
“We propose that irreversible thymic atrophy represents a conventional aging process that is accelerated by stromal catalase deficiency in the context of an intensely anabolic (lymphoid) environment,” they concluded.
The complete study published in the August issue of Cell Reports.
-Michelle Canales Butcher
Reference:
Griffith AV, Venables T, Shi J. Metabolic damage and premature thymus aging casued by stromal catalase deficiency. Cell Reports. 2015 August [epub ahead of print] doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2015.07.008.