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Calabria 2017 Abstract MITOEAGLE Barcelona

From Bioblast
COST Action MITOEAGLE
Age and frailty related changes in PBMCs mitochondrial function and whole body physiology.

Link: MitoEAGLE

Calabria E, Tarperi C, Venturelli M, Schena F (2017)

Event: MitoEAGLE Barcelona 2017

COST Action MITOEAGLE

Measures of physical function are good predictors of morbidity and mortality. Aging is associated with a progressive decline of physical function often with health consequences. In healthy aging the main limiting factors are the progressive loss of muscle mass (sarcopenia), immunosenescence and cognitive impairment. The biological mechanisms underlying this decline are not yet understood. It has been proposed that mitochondrial dys-function is at the basis of the aging process. Frailty is a condition that is also associated with aging, however the information linking aging, frailty and mitochondrial bioenergetics are still lacking.

Recent studies showed that it is possible to measure of mitochondrial function in human blood cells and that this can be associates to the level of fitness[1]. We have recently shown that aging results also in the down-regulation of a set of genes associated with mitochondrial electron transport system in blood cells [2].

The aim of our study is to investigate the reciprocal connections existing between human aging, frailty, progressive inactivity and mitochondrial function. We are using an interdisciplinary approach evaluating both whole body physiological parameters and mitochondrial respiratory capacity in PBMCs in two groups of men and women of different ages (adult - 40 years old ; elderly 69 years old). Evaluations consist in a battery of test to assess physical performance (SPPB test), cardio-respiratory capacity (VO2peak) measured with a ramp test on the cycle-ergometer and mitochondrial function with in vivo high-resolution respiration (HRR) on PBMCs. Preliminary data collected show that there is a progressive decay of mitochondrial coupling efficiency (1-L/E) is negatively correlated to age for men (p 0.030; r -0.561) and it is particularly evident in elderly men when compared to the group of adults or elderly women (p 0.044; p 0.026 respectively). The concentration of lactate accumulated at the peak is negatively correlated to mitochondrial ROUTINE metabolism (p 0.024; r -0.786). Furthermore in these groups of men and women, as expected, β€œage” negatively correlates also with functional parameters associated to the cardio-respiratory function and to mechanical power (VO2peak and Wattpeak).


β€’ Bioblast editor: Kandolf G β€’ O2k-Network Lab: IT Verona Calabria E


Labels: MiParea: Respiration, Exercise physiology;nutrition;life style  Pathology: Aging;senescence 

Organism: Human  Tissue;cell: Blood cells 


Coupling state: ROUTINE, ET 

HRR: Oxygraph-2k  Event: A4  PBMCs 

Affiliations

Dept Neurol Movement Sciences, Univ Verona, Italy

Abstract continued

The results reported here are still preliminary, however it is interesting that mitochondrial efficiency is differently modulated by aging depending on gender. It appears that while there is no difference between adult men and women, and between adult and elderly women, in elderly men ET-pathway coupling efficiency is significantly reduced. There is an interesting negative association between lactate and mitochondrial respiratory capacity of blood cells: the lactate measured most probably derives from anaerobic metabolism at the periphery of the body, during skeletal muscle fibers work during the ramp test. Although mitochondrial oxygen consumption is evaluated in circulating PBMCs, our data support the idea that at some extent metabolic adaptations occurring in blood cells are reflecting systemic metabolic properties.