A new study published by the research team led by the Chinese Academy of Sciences in the American journal "Cell" shows that when the diet is controlled at 70% full, more than one-half of senescent cells and one-quarter of aging genes can be reversed.
The researchers used rodent rats as the research object and exploited high-throughput single-cell and single-nuclear transcriptome sequencing technology.
They mapped the first multi-organ single-cell transcriptome map of mammalian aging and dieting and systematically evaluated the effect of dieting on different types of tissue cells in the body.
In the study, the researchers divided the participating rats into three groups: the young arbitrary feeding group, the elderly arbitrary feeding group, and the elderly dieting group.
Then from the middle age, the rats were intervened with "seven points full" (70% of the calorie intake), and the diet continued for 9 months.
Researchers say this is equivalent to humans starting to diet from about 40-45 years old and continuing until they are 70 years old.
Researchers have found that "seven percent full" interventions can reduce the signs of aging at the cellular, tissue and molecular levels and extend their lifespan.
In addition, transcriptome analysis of more than 200,000 single cells and nuclei obtained from 9 tissues showed that the tissues tested had changes in the composition of aging-related cell types, and more than half of these changes could be suppressed by dieting.
The researchers said that the increase of multi-organism immune inflammation pressure is a hallmark of aging, and dieting can effectively reverse the accumulation of pro-inflammatory cells in aging tissue.
It has also been found that aging causes the downregulation of Ybx1 gene expression in many cell types, and dieting can reverse this change in more than 20 cell types.
The researchers pointed out that for the first time, this study systematically analyzed the changes of cells and molecules of aging of the body at the level of multiple organs and tissues and provided new biological markers for early warning of aging.
At the same time, it also reveals the important role of the immune regulatory system in the process of dieting intervention for aging, which lays a theoretical foundation for the further development of intervention strategies for aging and related diseases.
