summary: In older adults, major depression is associated with mitochondrial deterioration.
sauce: U Conn
Depression drains a person’s energy. For older people, there may be good reasons for that. Depression is associated with the deterioration of small power plants within cells.
These powerhouses are mitochondria, tiny structures within cells that handle several important tasks. Most importantly, they produce the molecules that cells use for energy. When our mitochondria don’t work properly, it causes us all sorts of problems. Mitochondrial diseases such as Alper’s disease and Barth’s syndrome are the most common and usually become apparent during infancy or childhood. But researchers are now discovering other effects.
For example, major depression. A multi-institutional team of researchers led by her Emma Mastrobattista, a student at the UConn School of Medicine, and her Breno S. Diniz, associate professor of psychiatry and her UConn Center on Aging, American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry Older people with major depression often have rapidly aging mitochondria.
The team measured levels of protein produced by mitochondria in the blood of depressed adults over the age of 70. This protein, her GDF-15, is strongly associated with aging and dysfunctional mitochondria. And aged mitochondria are strongly associated with rapid biological aging: the higher her level of GDF-15 in her blood, the more likely her mitochondria are to be compromised. In other words, this is when our little power plant starts to collapse.
This is the largest study yet to show a link between accelerated mitochondrial aging and depression in the elderly, but it didn’t surprise the scientists. It has been shown to correlate with major depression.
“We have seen it in immune cells; glial cells in the brain;
“One problem leads to another, and what starts as a small problem becomes a bigger problem,” he says.
Researchers have begun testing interventions to reverse aging in humans in hopes of improving mitochondrial function and slowing or even reversing biological aging. They’re also working with partners working with senolytics, experimental drugs that selectively remove aging, dysfunctional cells in hopes of improving mood, strength, and energy in older people.
About this genetics and depression research news
author: Kim Krieger
sauce: U Conn
contact: Kim Krieger – UConn
image: image is public domain
Original research: closed access.
“Late-life depression is associated with elevated levels of GDF-15, a pro-aging mitokine” Emma Mastrobatista et al. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry
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overview
Late-life depression is associated with elevated levels of GDF-15, a pro-aging mitokine
the purpose
In the elderly, major depressive disorder (MDD) is associated with accelerated physiological and cognitive aging, and there has been interest in clarifying the biological pathways that could be targeted by interventions. increase. Growth differentiation factor-15 (GDF-15) plays an important role in biological aging through multiple biological pathways associated with age and age-related diseases. Elevated GDF-15 levels are correlated with increased chronological age, decreased telomerase activity, and increased mortality risk in the elderly. We sought to assess the associations between circulating levels of GDF-15 and depression severity, physical comorbidity burden, age at onset of first depressive episode, and cognitive performance in older adults with MDD.
design
In this study, GDF-15 in 393 older adults (mean ± SD age 70 ± 6.6 years, male:female ratio 1:1.54), 308 MDD patients, and 85 nondepressed comparators. Circulation levels were analyzed.
result
After adjusting for confounding variables, depressed older adults had significantly higher GDF-15 serum levels (640.1 ± 501.5 ng/mL) than control individuals (431.90 ± 223.35 ng/mL) (t=3.75). , df = 391, p = 0.0002). Among people with depression, those with higher GDF-15 have higher levels of comorbid physical illness, lower managerial cognitive function, and are more likely to develop late-onset depression.
Conclusion
Our results suggest that late-life depression is associated with GDF-15, a marker of amplified age-related biological changes. GDF-15 is a novel potential target biological pathway between depression and accelerated aging, including cognitive aging.
