Food consumption and individual lifespan of adults of the blowfly, Calliphora stygia: a test of the ‘rate of living’ theory of aging

Hulbert, A. J.; Usher, Michael; Wallman, James F.

doi:10.1016/j.exger.2004.08.008

Cited by 19 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…In separate cohorts that were divided by the same criteria into the upper and lower 25 centiles for total daily energy metabolism, we also showed that the mice differed in their rates of resting as well as total metabolism and also that the mice in the upper 25 centile had more uncoupled mitochondria -an effect mediated by both differences in the adenine nucleotide translocase and uncoupling protein 3 in their muscle . In contrast to these data, Hulbert et al (2004a) measured metabolic rates of individual Drosophila but found no relation between the lifespan and metabolic rate and these observations were repeated in the blowfly Calliphora stygia with the same results (Hulbert et al, 2004b).…”

Section: (Iv) Studies Of Individual Variation Within Speciesmentioning

confidence: 56%

Body size, energy metabolism and lifespan

Speakman

2005

Journal of Experimental Biology

744

637

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Bigger animals live longer. The scaling exponent for the relationship between lifespan and body mass is between 0.15 and 0.3. Bigger animals also expend more energy, and the scaling exponent for the relationship of resting metabolic rate (RMR) to body mass lies somewhere between 0.66 and 0.8. Mass-specific RMR therefore scales with a corresponding exponent between -0.2 and -0.33. Because the exponents for mass-specific RMR are close to the exponents for lifespan, but have opposite signs, their product (the mass-specific expenditure of energy per lifespan) is independent of body mass (exponent between -0.08 and 0.08). This means that across species a gram of tissue on average expends about the same amount of energy before it dies regardless of whether that tissue is located in a shrew, a cow, an elephant or a whale. This fact led to the notion that ageing and lifespan are processes regulated by energy metabolism rates and that elevating metabolism will be associated with premature mortalitythe rate of living theory.The free-radical theory of ageing provides a potential mechanism that links metabolism to ageing phenomena, since oxygen free radicals are formed as a by-product of oxidative phosphorylation. Despite this potential synergy in these theoretical approaches, the free-radical theory has grown in stature while the rate of living theory has fallen into disrepute. This is primarily because comparisons made across classes (for example, between birds and mammals) do not conform to the expectations, and even within classes there is substantial interspecific variability in the mass-specific expenditure of energy per lifespan. Using interspecific data to test the rate of living hypothesis is, however, confused by several major problems. For example, appeals that the resultant lifetime expenditure of energy per gram of tissue is 'too variable' depend on the biological significance rather than the statistical significance of the variation observed. Moreover, maximum lifespan is not a good marker of ageing and RMR is not a good measure of total energy metabolism. Analysis of residual lifespan against residual RMR reveals no significant relationship. However, this is still based on RMR.A novel comparison using daily energy expenditure (DEE), rather than BMR, suggests that lifetime expenditure of energy per gram of tissue is NOT independent of body mass, and that tissue in smaller animals expends more energy before expiring than tissue in larger animals. Some of the residual variation in this relationship in mammals is explained by ambient temperature. In addition there is a significant negative relationship between residual lifespan and residual daily energy expenditure in mammals. A potentially much better model to explore the links of body size, metabolism and ageing is to examine the intraspecific links. These studies have generated some data that support the original rate of living theory and other data that conflict. In particular several studies have shown that manipulating animals to expend more or less energy ...

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Section: (Iv) Studies Of Individual Variation Within Speciesmentioning

confidence: 56%

Body size, energy metabolism and lifespan

Speakman

2005

Journal of Experimental Biology

744

637

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“…In both cases, these n-6 PUFA changes are compensated by opposite changes in the content of peroxidation-resistant MUFA (323). In Drosophila, there is no increase in metabolic rate with age (5,157,242,303), and similarly in the blowfly Calliphora stygia, there was no increase in food consumption with age (166). Rather than an increase, some of these studies actually report a drop in metabolic rate at the end of the adult life span of these insects.…”

Section: Ectothermic Vertebrates and Invertebratesmentioning

confidence: 86%

“…Similarly, within a Drosophila population, there is no correlation between individual metabolic rate and individual life span (157). Within a population of blowflies, there was also no correlation between individual rates of food consumption and individual life span (166).…”

Section: Ectothermic Vertebrates and Invertebratesmentioning

confidence: 98%

Life and Death: Metabolic Rate, Membrane Composition, and Life Span of Animals

Hulbert¹,

Pamplona²,

Buffenstein

et al. 2007

Physiological Reviews

754

725

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Maximum life span differences among animal species exceed life span variation achieved by experimental manipulation by orders of magnitude. The differences in the characteristic maximum life span of species was initially proposed to be due to variation in mass-specific rate of metabolism. This is called the rate-of-living theory of aging and lies at the base of the oxidative-stress theory of aging, currently the most generally accepted explanation of aging. However, the rate-of-living theory of aging while helpful is not completely adequate in explaining the maximum life span. Recently, it has been discovered that the fatty acid composition of cell membranes varies systematically between species, and this underlies the variation in their metabolic rate. When combined with the fact that 1) the products of lipid peroxidation are powerful reactive molecular species, and 2) that fatty acids differ dramatically in their susceptibility to peroxidation, membrane fatty acid composition provides a mechanistic explanation of the variation in maximum life span among animal species. When the connection between metabolic rate and life span was first proposed a century ago, it was not known that membrane composition varies between species. Many of the exceptions to the rate-of-living theory appear explicable when the particular membrane fatty acid composition is considered for each case. Here we review the links between metabolic rate and maximum life span of mammals and birds as well as the linking role of membrane fatty acid composition in determining the maximum life span. The more limited information for ectothermic animals and treatments that extend life span (e.g., caloric restriction) are also reviewed.

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“…In this experiment, nine males and ten females were placed into individual specimen jars (100 ml) maintained at 25°C and 60% relative humidity and plugged with foam stoppers to permit gas exchange [7]. These were provided with water and standard sugar-yeast food in separate small containers (1.5 ml Eppendorf tube caps).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Here we report on an investigation into the effects of temperature on ageing in adults of the blowfly Calliphora stygia . As has previously been suggested [7], [8], this insect species combines the experimental advantages of both the invertebrate models (short lifespan and cheap husbandry costs) and the rodent models (a body size sufficient for measurement of individuals).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Temperature on the Rate of Ageing: An Experimental Study of the Blowfly Calliphora stygia

et al. 2013

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All organisms age, the rate of which can be measured by demographic analysis of mortality rates. The rate of ageing is thermally sensitive in ectothermic invertebrates and we examined the effects of temperature on both demographic rates of ageing and on cellular senescence in the blowfly, Calliphora stygia. The short lifespan of these flies is advantageous for demographic measurements while their large body size permits individual-based biochemical characterisation. Blowflies maintained at temperatures from 12°C to 34°C had a five to six-fold decrease in maximum and average longevity, respectively. Mortality rates were best described by a two-phase Gompertz relation, which revealed the first-phase of ageing to be much more temperature sensitive than the second stage. Flies held at low temperatures had both a slower first-phase rate of ageing and a delayed onset of second-phase ageing, which significantly extended their longevity compared with those at high temperatures. Blowflies that were transferred from 29°C to 15°C had higher first-phase mortality rates than those of flies held at constant 15°C, but their onset of second-phase ageing was deferred beyond that of flies held constantly at this temperature. The accumulation of fluorescent AGE pigment, a measure of cellular oxidative damage, increased steadily over time in all blowflies, irrespective of the temporal pattern of mortality. Pigment accumulated steadily during periods of ‘negligible senescence’, as measured by minimal rate of mortality, and the rate of accumulation was significantly affected by temperature. Thus accumulation of AGE pigment is more representative of chronological age than a reflection of biological age or a cause of mortality.

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Food consumption and individual lifespan of adults of the blowfly, Calliphora stygia: a test of the ‘rate of living’ theory of aging

Cited by 19 publications

References 20 publications

Body size, energy metabolism and lifespan

Body size, energy metabolism and lifespan

Life and Death: Metabolic Rate, Membrane Composition, and Life Span of Animals

Effect of Temperature on the Rate of Ageing: An Experimental Study of the Blowfly Calliphora stygia

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