Caloric restriction of rhesus monkeys lowers oxidative damage in skeletal muscle





T.D. Oberley, T.A. Zainal, D.B. Allison, L.I. Szweda, R. Weindruch

Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
University of Wisconsin Medical School
Madison, WI 53706




We used immunogold electron microscopic (EM) techniques with antibodies raised against 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal (HNE) modified proteins, dinitrophenol, and nitrotyrosine to quantify and localize the age-dependent accumulation of oxidative damage in rhesus monkey skeletal muscle. Using immunogold EM analysis of muscle from rhesus monkeys ranging in age from 2 to 34 years old, a fourfold maximal increase in levels of HNE-modified proteins was observed. Likewise, carbonyl levels increased ~twofold with aging. Comparing 17- to 23-year-old normally fed to age-matched monkeys subjected to caloric restriction (CR) for 10 years, levels of HNE-modified proteins, carbonyls, and nitrotyrosine in skeletal muscle from the CR group were significantly less than control group values. Oxidative damage largely localized to myofibrils, with lesser labeling in other subcellular compartments. Accumulation of lipid peroxidation-derived aldehydes, and protein carabonyls were measured biochemically and confirmed the morphological data. Our study is the first to quantify morphologically and localize the age-dependent accrual of oxidative damage in mammalian skeletal muscle and to demonstrate that oxidative damage in primates is lowered by CR.

KEY WORDS: Aging, free radicals, lipid peroxidation, reactive oxygen species, sarcopenia







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