Volume 1 Issue 3, March 2021

Zhang et al. describe a neural circuit that reduces lifespan when food-restricted worms smell food. This circuit signals the intestine via octopamine, the invertebrate homolog of norepinephrine, to activate AMPKα. Importantly, norepinephrine signaling also activates AMPKα in mammalian cells, suggesting a conserved mechanism.

Chronological age fails to capture how the process of aging differs between individuals. Variability in rates of biological aging in youth is related to anatomical and functional differences already visible by midlife. This portends substantially different aging outcomes that have individual- and societal-level implications.

Biomarkers for Parkinson’s disease are critical to our efforts to identify disease-modifying therapies. Kern et al. document potential microRNA (miRNA) biomarkers and trends in miRNA regulation that occur in a bimodal distribution with age.

The authors review how the blood–brain barrier, a regulatory interface that controls interactions between the blood and central nervous system, changes during healthy aging, and discuss how some of these changes may predispose to age-associated diseases.

The authors found that the olfactory perception of food abundance can regulate the impact of dietary restriction on longevity in Caenorhabditis elegans. They show that food odors act on olfactory circuitry that signals the gut via octopamine to suppress dietary restriction-induced longevity.

This study demonstrates that short and dysfunctional telomeres sensitize kidneys to develop fibrosis and enhance the genetic program associated with epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition in two mouse models of kidney fibrosis.

Ito et al. show that regeneration in the aging brain is impaired due to reduced expression of the apelin receptor APJ. Circulating apelin signals oligodendrocytes via APJ to support remyelination, and this pathway can be restored in older mice with an APJ agonist.

A cohort study tracking 20-year age-related declines in multiple organ systems finds that, already by midlife, those aging fastest showed cognitive declines, signs of brain aging, diminished sensory–motor function and negative views about aging.

The authors present a small noncoding RNA atlas characterizing two longitudinal Parkinson’s disease cohorts and reveal potential biomarkers for disease detection, their relation to molecular hallmarks of PD and regulatory disease-progression modules.