Compound mimics calorie restriction. (Biomedicine).A chemical agent now under development mimics the health benefits of long-term calorie restriction and may help ward off diseases of aging such as diabetes and heart disease. Animals whose food intake is restricted to about two-thirds of what they would otherwise consume develop diabetes and heart disease later in life than do animals that eat to their heart's content, says Barbara C. Hansen of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore (SN: 3/15/97, p. 162). However, such severe calorie restriction isn't a likely way of preventing disease in people. The new agent mimics a compound called peroxisome 1. any of the microbodies present in vertebrate animal cells, especially liver and kidney cells, which are rich in the enzymes peroxidase, catalase, d-amino acid oxidase, and, to a lesser extent, urate oxidase. 2. microbody (1). per·ox·i·some (p proliferator activated receptor-delta, or PPAR PPAR - Peroxisome Proliferator Activated Receptor-delta. In the body, PPAR-delta and related compounds handle cholesterol and fat and govern cells' sensitivity to insulin (SN: 4/17/01, p. 238). To see whether the PPAR-delta mimic wards off diseases of aging, Hansen took six middle-aged male monkeys with abnormally high concentrations of fatty acids essential fatty acid any fatty acid that cannot be synthesized by the body and must be obtained from dietary sources, e.g., linoleic acid and linolenic acid. free fatty acids (FFA) nonesterified f. a's. monounsaturated fatty acids unsaturated fatty acids containing a single double bond, occurring predominantly as oleic acid, in peanut, olive, and canola oils. in their blood. The animals also had abnormally low concentrations of high-density-lipoprotein-linked (HDL) cholesterol, or good cholesterol. In monkeys and people, these conditions increase the risk of heart disease. The monkeys were also less sensitive to insulin than normal, an early sign of diabetes. After 4 weeks on the PPAR-delta mimic, the monkeys had HDL cholesterol concentrations in their blood that were on average 79 percent higher than when they started. They also had fatty acid concentrations 56 percent below their initial concentrations, and the animals' sensitivity to insulin increased over the course of the study. Moreover, the agent had no apparent side effect, Hansen reported last month at a meeting on metabolic diseases in Tempe, Ariz. "Especially for HDL, I've never seen a more powerful agent," Hansen says. Although the study is small, if it holds up in people, "the public health impact could be enormous," says Andrezej Bartke of Southern Illinois University Southern Illinois University, main campus at Carbondale; state supported; coeducational; est. 1869, opened 1874 as a normal school, renamed 1947. It has a center for archaeological investigation and a fisheries research laboratory. There is also a campus at Edwardsville. in Carbondale Carbondale. 1 City (1990 pop. 27,033), Jackson co., S Ill.; inc. 1869. It is a railroad division point and the retail center of a coal-mining and farming area. Southern Illinois Univ. is a major employer. Memorial Day was inaugurated (1868) in Carbondale by Gen. John Logan. Giant City State Park and a wildlife refuge are nearby. 2 City (1990 pop. 10,664), Lackawanna co., NE Pa., on the Lackawanna River; inc. 1851.. The new compound is already being tested in people, Hansen says. |
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