Brain Aging and Dietary Restriction

摘要

Dietary restriction (reduced calorie intake with nutritional maintenance) can extend lifespan and may increase the resistance of the nervous system to age-related diseases including neurodegenerative disorders. The mechanisms underlying the beneficial effects of dietary involves stimulation of the expression of neurotrophic factors and 'stress proteins'. The neurotrophic factors and stress proteins induced by dietary restriction may protect neurons by suppressing oxyradical production, stabilizing cellular calcium homeostasis and inhibiting a form of programmed cell death called apoptosis. Interestingly, dietary restriction also increase numbers of newly generated neural cells in the adult brain suggesting that these behavioral modifications can increase the brain's capacity for plasticity and self-repair. A better understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying these effects of diet and behavior on the brain is leading to novel therapeutic agents that mimick their beneficial effects.