Hypothalamic circuits and aging: keeping the circadian clock updated.
Rosa Vázquez-LizarragaLucia Mendoza-ViverosCarolina Cid-CastroSareni Ruiz-MontoyaErick Carreño-VázquezRicardo Orozco-SolísPublished in: Neural regeneration research (2023)
Over the past century, age-related diseases, such as cancer, type-2 diabetes, obesity, and mental illness, have shown a significant increase, negatively impacting overall quality of life. Studies on aged animal models have unveiled a progressive discoordination at multiple regulatory levels, including transcriptional, translational, and post-translational processes, resulting from cellular stress and circadian derangements. The circadian clock emerges as a key regulator, sustaining physiological homeostasis and promoting healthy aging through timely molecular coordination of pivotal cellular processes, such as stem-cell function, cellular stress responses, and inter-tissue communication, which become disrupted during aging. Given the crucial role of hypothalamic circuits in regulating organismal physiology, metabolic control, sleep homeostasis, and circadian rhythms, and their dependence on these processes, strategies aimed at enhancing hypothalamic and circadian function, including pharmacological and non-pharmacological approaches, offer systemic benefits for healthy aging. Intranasal brain-directed drug administration represents a promising avenue for effectively targeting specific brain regions, like the hypothalamus, while reducing side effects associated with systemic drug delivery, thereby presenting new therapeutic possibilities for diverse age-related conditions.
Keyphrases
- mental illness
- type diabetes
- resting state
- drug delivery
- transcription factor
- functional connectivity
- white matter
- insulin resistance
- metabolic syndrome
- gene expression
- cancer therapy
- drug administration
- multiple sclerosis
- mental health
- weight loss
- physical activity
- cardiovascular disease
- cerebral ischemia
- squamous cell carcinoma
- adipose tissue
- brain injury
- skeletal muscle
- blood brain barrier
- sleep quality
- young adults
- high fat diet induced
- oxidative stress
- squamous cell
- heat shock protein
- drug induced
- childhood cancer