Key to anti-ageing present in living organisms?
ALLAHABAD: Anti-ageing and prolonged life has forever grabbed the interest of mankind. The key to unlocking this mystery possibly lies in a small hormone present in all human beings— Melatonin. Secreted by the pineal gland (located in the centre of the brain), melatonin helps maintain circadian rhythm and regulate reproductive hormones.
Now, Allahabad University biochemist Prof SI Rizvi is exploring options to kickstart research collaboration with biochemists of University of Texas, US to explore the role of melatonin and its effects on ageing.
Scientists from all around the world had converged in Madrid, Spain during the ‘XVI international Congress of anti-ageing medicine and longevity’ in October 5-7 and deliberated upon the possible anti-ageing interventions. Prof Rizvi was also invited as a speaker.
Speaking about the importance of melatonin Prof Rizvi said, “Melatonin has been established as an efficient antioxidant and a major activator of biological clock.”
He further said that in the absence of light, the clock genes are activated to release melatonin. Once it is synthesized, melatonin is released into the bloodstream directly.
Prof Rizvi said that following initial talks, he was now exploring avenues for a fruitful scientific collaboration with scientists at University of Texas to work on the role of melatonin as an antiageing agent.
A host of important functions such as control of circannual reproductive cycles in animals, neuroprotection, tumor-suppression, and immunomodulation have also been ascribed to melatonin.
“The role of melatonin as a regulating factor in ageing is now being investigated and scientists are beginning to understand that secretion of melatonin drops with age, which leads to disruption in the circadian cycle,” he explained.
Circadian rhythm represents one of the most evident manifestations of adaptation to the environment and its examples include endocrine oscillations in various hormones such as melatonin, cortisol, or growth hormone, as well as rhythms in physiological parameters such as body temperature, and rhythmicity in behaviour as observed in the activity-rest cycles, feeding and the sleep-wake cycles.
Evidence is now available that traces of melatonin are found in the earliest living organisms, which inhabited earth around 3 billion years back.
This observation has led researchers to believe that the primary role of melatonin has been as a powerful anti-oxidant.
In the backdrop of a plethora of evidence linking oxidative stress with ageing, the role of melatonin as an anti-ageing therapy is gaining importance, said Prof Rizvi.
AGEING RESEARCH NOW A TOP PRIORITY
The collaboration is on cards at a time when research on ageing and ways to conquer it have received a fillip after three American scientists who made key discoveries about how living cells age, received the 2009 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine.
Three American scientists have been awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize in medicine also for discovering the molecular workings of the ‘body clock’ in humans and animals that synchronises with the earth’s cycle through night and day.
Professor Jeffrey Hall, Professor Michael Rosbash and Michael Young worked out how a biochemical feedback mechanism maintains our circadian rhythm, the 24-hour cycle of sleep and wakefulness, feeding behaviour, hormone release, blood pressure and many other physiological functions.