SARS‐COV‐2 and biomimetics: What saves the planet will save our health

Stenvinkel, Peter; Painer, Johanna; Shiels, Paul G.; Bansal, Anip; Fereidouni, Sasan; Natterson-Horowitz, Barbara; Johnson, Richard J.; Miranda, J. Jaime

doi:10.1111/joim.13128

Cited by 7 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…The health, social and economic impacts of zoonotic disease associated with wild fauna have generated great concern among scientists, medical institutions, and people in general (Saba & Balwan, 2021). However, more research is still needed to identify the key factors favoring zoonosis spillovers (Stenvinkel et al, 2021). In the meantime, it looks like one of the best routes to prevent zoonosis is making operative public policies and conservation strategies focused on protecting tropical forests and wildlife.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Deforestation increases the abundance of rodents and their ectoparasites in the Lacandon forest, Southern Mexico

Barriga-Carbajal,

Vargas-Sandoval,

Mendoza

2023

Rev. Biol. Trop.

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Introduction: An important ecosystem service tropical forests provide is disease control. However, few studies have focused on analyzing how species more suitable to be zoonotic vectors are affected by deforestation. Objective: We evaluated how deforestation affects the abundance and species richness of rodents and their associated ectoparasites in Marques de Comillas, Chiapas, Southern Mexico. Methods: We captured rodents in 6 landscape units (LU), 1 km² each, with different percentages of tree cover (0.7, 5, 40, 46, 78, and 95 %). In each LU we set 90 Sherman traps that remained active 24 hours for 7 days during two sampling seasons in October 2019, and September 2020. All the captured rodents were checked for ectoparasites in their fur, which were collected to be identified at the lab. Results: We captured 70 rodents of five species: Sigmodon toltecus, Heteromys desmarestianus, Ototylomys phyllotis, Peromyscus mexicanus, and Oryzomys couesi. Rodent abundance increased with forest loss (R² = 0.706, P = 0.022). The greatest richness of rodent species occurred in sites with intermediate forest cover (40 % and 78 %). The most abundant species were S. toltecus (N = 45) followed by O. couesi (N = 9), these species dominated in sites with less forest cover. We recorded a total of 23 different ectoparasites, from these we identified 15 at the species level and eight at the genus level. We detected three species of ectoparasites (Amblyomma sp., Ornithonyssus bacoti, and Androlaelaps fahrenholzi) known to be vectors of zoonotic diseases. Conclusions: We found that the ongoing loss of forests promotes the proliferation of zoonotic disease vectors, which can potentially increase the frequency of affectation among the local population.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Deforestation increases the abundance of rodents and their ectoparasites in the Lacandon forest, Southern Mexico

Barriga-Carbajal,

Vargas-Sandoval,

Mendoza

2023

Rev. Biol. Trop.

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“…Naked mole rats, for example, have proven of particular interest, as they defy Gompertzian law, being extremely long-lived (over >30 years lifespan vs. 2–3 years typical of other rodents), have increased Nrf2 expression and are resistant to cardiovascular disease and cancer [ 2 ]. Similarly bats, which live as much as four times longer than similar-sized animals [ 26 , 27 ], exploit Nrf2 to mitigate the effects of the diseasome of ageing [ 22 , 28 ].…”

Section: Modulation Of Nrf2 Activity By the Exposomementioning

confidence: 99%

“…A confluence of global stressors has emerged that is having a singular and immediate impact on both human health and that of the natural world, with extreme sequelae expected over the remainder of the century. These include climate change, loss of biodiversity, pollution, deforestation, industrial monocultural farming, a shortage of portable water, a zoonotic pandemic layered upon an ongoing sixth mass extinction and a growing aged human population [ 28 ]. The societal implications of climate change are enormous and include a growth in environmental refugees, as habitat is lost.…”

Section: Geo-physical and Social Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Manipulating the exposome to enable better ageing

Shiels

Painer

Natterson-Horowitz

et al. 2021

Biochemical Journal

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The sum total of life course exposures creates an exposome that has a significant impact on age-related health. Understanding the interplay between exposome factors and the (epi) genome, offers pertinent insights into the ageing process and its relationship with the accumulation of allostatic load. We propose to exploit this to develop a biomimetic approach that will provide insight into how evolution through natural selection in other species has solved many age related human health issues. In particular, we will emphasise the need to reconnect a more mechanistic approach to medical science with a broader natural sciences approach, using biomimetics to mitigate the global burden of age related ill health. In particular, we will discuss how such an approach indicates leverage of the activities of the Nrf 2 gene to enhance health span via reintroduction of the classical ‘Food as Medicine’ concept, including modulation of the microbiome and the creation of more salutogenic and biophilic environments. Additionally, we will discuss how this approach integrates with novel and developing senotherapies.

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“…They live four-times longer than similar sized animals [125]. Bats have also developed ingenious augmented immune response mechanisms enabling them to host viruses, such as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and Ebolavirus, without presenting signs of clinical disease [126]. Their protection against ageing and immune-mediated tissue damage may depend on robust anti-inflammatory defence mechanisms due to an up-regulation of the cytoprotective transcription factor NRF2 [127] reduction in inflammasome pathways via regulation of caspases [128] and DNA hypermethylation of age-and longevity-associated sites [129].…”

Section: Lessons From Animals Characterised By Negligible Senescencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…To achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, a 'planetary health' approach is urgently needed [180], with a focus on human health in relation to the wellbeing of the whole planet and Earth's natural systems. The current pandemic and the cross-species transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is the ultimate call for sustainable human and ecosystem health [126].…”

Section: Lessons From Hibernating Species To Target the Diseasome Of Ageingmentioning

confidence: 99%

A biomimetic natural sciences approach to understanding the mechanisms of ageing in burden of lifestyle diseases

et al. 2021

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The worldwide landscape of an ageing population and age-related disease brings with it huge socio-economic and public healthcare concerns across nations. Correspondingly, monumental human and financial resources have been invested in biomedical research, with a mission to decode the mechanisms of ageing and how these contribute to age-related disease. Multiple hallmarks of ageing have been identified that are common across taxa, highlighting their fundamental importance. These include dysregulated mitochondrial metabolism and telomeres biology, epigenetic modifications, cell–matrix interactions, proteostasis, dysregulated nutrient sensing, stem cell exhaustion, inflammageing and immuno-senescence. While our understanding of the molecular basis of ageing is improving, it remains a complex and multifactorial process that remains to be fully understood. A key aspect of the shortfall in our understanding of the ageing process lies in translating data from standard animal models to humans. Consequently, we suggest that a ‘biomimetic’ and comparative approach, integrating knowledge from species in the wild, as opposed to inbred genetically homogenous laboratory animals, can provide powerful insights into human ageing processes. Here we discuss some particularities and comparative patterns among several species from the animal kingdom, endowed with longevity or short lifespans and unique metabolic profiles that could be potentially exploited to the understanding of ageing and age-related diseases. Based upon lessons from nature, we also highlight several avenues for renewed focus in the pathophysiology of ageing and age-related disease (i.e. diet-microbiome-health axis, oxidative protein damage, adaptive homoeostasis and planetary health). We propose that a biomimetic alliance with collaborative research from different disciplines can improve our understanding of ageing and age-related diseases with long-term sustainable utility.

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SARS‐COV‐2 and biomimetics: What saves the planet will save our health

Cited by 7 publications

References 32 publications

Deforestation increases the abundance of rodents and their ectoparasites in the Lacandon forest, Southern Mexico

Deforestation increases the abundance of rodents and their ectoparasites in the Lacandon forest, Southern Mexico

Manipulating the exposome to enable better ageing

A biomimetic natural sciences approach to understanding the mechanisms of ageing in burden of lifestyle diseases

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