No abstract

Our data suggest that physical activity and resveratrol may be of great importance for the prevention of age-related diseases, but that their organ-dependent effect must be taken into consideration to design a better intervention.

Coenzyme Q (Q) is a key lipidic compound for cell bioenergetics and membrane antioxidant activities. It has been shown that also has a central role in the prevention of oxidation of plasma lipoproteins. Q has been associated with the prevention of cholesterol oxidation and several aging-related diseases. However, to date no clear data on the levels of plasma Q during aging are available. We have measured the levels of plasmatic Q10 and cholesterol in young and old individuals showing different degrees of physical activity. Our results indicate that plasma Q10 levels in old people are higher that the levels found in young people. Our analysis also indicates that there is no a relationship between the degree of physical activity and Q10 levels when the general population is studied. However, very interestingly, we have found a different tendency between Q10 levels and physical activity depending on the age of individuals. In young people, higher activity correlates with lower Q10 levels in plasma whereas in older adults this ratio changes and higher activity is related to higher plasma Q10 levels and higher Q10/Chol ratios. Higher Q10 levels in plasma are related to lower lipoperoxidation and oxidized LDL levels in elderly people. Our results highlight the importance of life habits in the analysis of Q10 in plasma and indicate that the practice of physical activity at old age can improve antioxidant capacity in plasma and help to prevent cardiovascular diseases.

quinone acceptor oxidoreductase protein decreased by RSV although the activity was enhanced. Our results indicate that RSV and exercise revert the effect of aging in liver of old animals maintaining higher antioxidant activities and decreasing oxidative damage. Short-term interventions are enough to produce beneficial effects of RSV or exercise at later ages.

No abstract

Aging affects many biochemical, cellular, and physiological processes in the organisms. Accumulation of damage based on oxidized macromolecules is found in many age-associated diseases. Coenzyme Q (Q) is one of the main molecules involved in metabolic and antioxidant activities in cells. Q-dependent antioxidant activities are importantly involved on the protection of cell membranes against oxidation. Many studies indicate that Q decay in most of the organs during aging. In our study, no changes in Q levels were found in old animals in comparison with young animals. On the other hand, the interventions, caloric restriction based on every-other-day feeding procedure, and physical exercise were able to increase Q levels in muscle, but only in old and not in young animals. Probably, this effect prevented the increase in lipid peroxidation found in aged animals and also protein carbonylation. Further, Q-dependent antioxidant activities such as NADH-cytochrome b5 reductase and NAD(P)H-quinone oxidoreductase 1 are also modulated by both exercise and every other day feeding. Taken together, we demonstrate that exercise and dietary restriction as every-other-day procedure can regulate endogenous synthesized Q levels and Q-dependent antioxidant activities in muscle, preventing oxidative damage in aged muscle.

Decrease in muscle mass and performance with ageing is one of the main factors of frailty in the elderly. Maintenance of muscle performance by involving in physical activities is essential to increase independence and quality of life among elderly. The use of natural compounds with ergogenic activity in old people would increase the effect of moderate exercises in the maintenance of physiological muscle capacity. Resveratrol (RSV), a polyphenol found in walnuts, berries and grapes, shows this ergogenic activity. By using young, mature and old mice as models, we have found that RSV improves muscle performance in mature and old animals but not in young animals. Without showing significant effect by itself, RSV primed the effect of exercise by increasing endurance, coordination and strength in old animals. This effect was accompanied by a higher protection against oxidative damage and an increase in mitochondrial mass. RSV increased catalase and superoxide dismutase protein levels in muscle and primed exercise to reverse the decrease in their activities during ageing. Furthermore, RSV increased the level of mitochondrial mass markers such as cytochrome C, mitochondrial transcription factor A and nuclear respiratory factor-1 in muscle in exercised animals. Our results indicate that RSV can be considered an ergogenic compound that helps maintain muscle performance during ageing and subsequently reduces frailty and increases muscle performance in old individuals practising moderate exercise.Key words: Ageing: Exercise: Polyphenols: Muscles: Mitochondria: Metabolism and metabolic studies Sarcopenia is one of the hallmarks of ageing. This term defines age-associated loss of muscle mass, strength and function (1) . Sarcopenia is an important health problem among the elderly. It has been determined that approximately 11-50 % of people aged above 80 years suffer from sarcopenia, especially those living in nursing homes (2) . Maintenance of muscle functionality is important to avoid frailty and to increase the independence and quality of life during ageing. It seems clear that for daily life activity, and hence a good quality of life, not only strength but also endurance is needed. Apart from the maintenance of a series of basic exercises, several nutritional bioactive compounds have been proposed to increase muscle function during ageing and to avoid sarcopenia (3) . These compounds act by affecting mitochondrial activity and turnover through modulating PPAR γ co-activator 1 α (PGC-1α) and other modulators such as sirtuins (3) .Resveratrol (RSV) is a polyphenol found in grapes, red wine, walnuts, peanuts and berries. The potential benefits of RSV have been demonstrated as a mimicker of energy intake restriction (CR) (4) , modulator of postmenopausal-dependent osteopenia (5) , regulator of circadian clocks in high-fat diets (6) or as a positive factor in motor behaviour and neuronal function during ageing (7) among many other different effects. An enormous body of evidence indicates that RSV modulates the activity o...

We studied ubiquinone (Q), Q homologue ratio and steady-state levels of mCOQ transcripts in tissues from mice fed ad libitum or under calorie restriction. Maximum ubiquinone levels on a protein basis were found in kidney and heart, followed by liver, brain and skeletal muscle. Liver and skeletal muscle showed the highest Q9/Q10 ratios with significant inter-individual variability. Heart, kidney, and particularly brain exhibited lower Q9/Q10 ratios and inter-individual variability. In skeletal muscle and heart, the most abundant mCOQ transcript was mCOQ7, followed by mCOQ8, mCOQ2, mPDSS2, mPDSS1 and mCOQ3. In non muscular tissues (liver, kidney and brain) the most abundant mCOQ transcript was mCOQ2, followed by mCOQ7, mCOQ8, mPDSS1, mPDSS2, and mCOQ3. Calorie restriction increased both ubiquinone homologues and mPDSS2 mRNA in skeletal muscle, but mCOQ7 was decreased. In contrast, Q9 and most mCOQ transcripts were decreased in heart. Calorie restriction also modified Q9/Q10 ratio, which was increased in kidney and decreased in heart without alterations of mPDSS1 or mPDSS2 transcripts. We demonstrate for the first time that unique patterns of mCOQ transcripts exist in muscular and non-muscular tissues, and that Q and COQ genes are targets of calorie restriction in a tissue-specific way.