X-Message-Number: 31726
Date: Sat, 6 Jun 2009 21:02:35 -0700 (PDT)
From: 
Subject: the free radical theory of aging still attracts funding

[Hard to say what it would take to choke off funding for this now
discredited theory of aging. This is the Eveready Energizer bunny of
aging theories. It just keeps going, and going, and going...]

FASEB J. 2009 Jun 1. [Epub ahead of print]

Lack of methionine sulfoxide reductase A in mice increases sensitivity to 
oxidative stress but does not diminish life span.

  Salmon AB, Perez VI, Bokov A, Jernigan A, Kim G, Zhao H, Levine RL, Richardson
  A. *The Sam and Ann Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging 
  Studies,Department of Cellular and Structural Biology, andDepartment of 
  Physiology, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San 
  Antonio, Texas, USA;Laboratory of Biochemistry, National Heart, Lung, and 
  Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA; 
  and||The Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center, South Texas 
  Veterans Health Care System, San Antonio, Texas, USA.

  Methionine sulfoxide reductase A (MsrA) repairs oxidized methionine residues 
  within proteins and may also function as a general antioxidant. Previous 
  reports have suggested that modulation of MsrA in mice and mammalian cell 
  culture can affect the accumulation of oxidized proteins and may regulate 
  resistance to oxidative stress. Thus, under the oxidative stress theory of 
  aging, these results would predict that MsrA regulates the aging process in 
  mammals. We show here that MsrA(-/-) mice are more susceptible to oxidative 
  stress induced by paraquat. Skin-derived fibroblasts do not express MsrA, but 
  fibroblasts cultured from MsrA(-/-) mice were, nevertheless, also more 
  susceptible to killing by various oxidative stresses. In contrast to previous 
  reports, we find no evidence for neuromuscular dysfunction in MsrA(-/-) mice 
  in either young adult or in older animals. Most important, we found no 
  difference between MsrA(-/-) and control mice in either their median or 
  maximum life span. Thus, our results show that MsrA regulates sensitivity to 
  oxidative stress in mice but has no effect on aging, as determined by life 
  span.-Salmon, A. B., Perez, V. I., Bokov, A., Jernigan, A., Kim, G., Zhao, H.,
  Levine, R. L., Richardson, A. Lack of methionine sulfoxide reductase A in 
  mice increases sensitivity to oxidative stress but does not diminish life 
  span.
PMID: 19487311

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