Serotonin and Dopamine Modulate Aging in Response to Food Odor and Availability

Summary: Medications that block serotonin and dopamine enable the life extension effect of the FMO protein in C. elegans, even in the presence of the smell of food.

Source: University of Michigan

It’s common knowledge that a healthy diet is to key to a healthy life. And while many people go on specialized diets to trim down or improve their overall health, researchers interested in aging have been actively studying the life-extending effects of dietary restriction and fasting.

“There’s a concept called hormesis in biology, the idea of which is what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” said Scott Leiser, Ph.D., an assistant professor in Molecular & Integrative Physiology, and Internal Medicine at University of Michigan Medical School.

“One of the stresses that’s been most studied is dietary restriction, shown in many different organisms to extend lifespan and in people to improve health.”

However, as anyone on a diet to lose weight can attest, the mere smell of delicious food can be enough to break one’s willpower. A previous study from Leiser’s colleague Scott Pletcher, Ph.D., also of the Department of Molecular & Integrative Physiology, found that in fruit flies, attractive food smells are enough to blunt the life-extending effect of a restricted diet.

In a new study published in Nature Communications, Leiser, first authors Hillary Miller, Ph.D., and Shijiao Huang, Ph.D., and their team build on that research to figure out why this is the case and whether the phenomenon could be blocked with a drug.

In the roundworm C. elegans, lifespan extension in response to environmental stressors such as dietary restriction involves the activation of a gene called fmo-2. The team used the transparent nature of C. elegans to be able to see, in real time, the levels of FMO proteins.

When worms were limited in the amount of food they could eat, the FMO protein, which was highlighted using a fluorescent marker, lit up “like a Christmas tree…it was bright red,” noted Leiser. However, when the worms were exposed to food smells, there was considerably less activation of FMO, leading to a loss of life extension.

This shows a drawing of C elegans and foods
In the roundworm C. elegans, lifespan extension in response to environmental stressors such as dietary restriction involves the activation of a gene called fmo-2. Credit: Justine Ross, Michigan Medicine

One of the main issues of dietary restriction as a potential approach for life extension in people is how difficult it is. But, said Leiser, “what if you could give yourself a drug that confused your body into thinking you were restricting your diet?”

Building on earlier research showing that neurotransmitters regulate longevity resulting from dietary restriction, the team screened compounds known to act on neurons.

They found three compounds that could prevent the reversal of fmo-2 induction in the presence of food: an antidepressant that blocks the neurotransmitter serotonin, and two antipsychotic drugs used to treat schizophrenia, both of which block the neurotransmitter dopamine.

“We know serotonin and dopamine are major players in the reward portion of the brain and tend to be involved in satiety and food response signals,” said Leiser. “The fact that the drugs we found were antagonizing this suggests you are blocking aspects of these pathways.” Ultimately, the drugs enabled the life extension effect of FMO, even in the presence of the smell of food.

These specific drugs are unlikely to be prescribed for this effect however, given their many potentially dangerous side effects. But they provide important clues about the fmo-2 activation pathway and its effect on life extension.

About this neuroscience research news

Author: Press Office
Source: University of Michigan
Contact: Press Office – University of Michigan
Image: The image is credited to Justine Ross, Michigan Medicine

Original Research: Open access.
Serotonin and dopamine modulate aging in response to food odor and availability” by Hillary A. Miller et al. Nature Communications


Abstract

Serotonin and dopamine modulate aging in response to food odor and availability

An organism’s ability to perceive and respond to changes in its environment is crucial for its health and survival.

Here we reveal how the most well-studied longevity intervention, dietary restriction, acts in-part through a cell non-autonomous signaling pathway that is inhibited by the presence of attractive smells.

Using an intestinal reporter for a key gene induced by dietary restriction but suppressed by attractive smells, we identify three compounds that block food odor effects in C. elegans, thereby increasing longevity as dietary restriction mimetics.

These compounds clearly implicate serotonin and dopamine in limiting lifespan in response to food odor.

We further identify a chemosensory neuron that likely perceives food odor, an enteric neuron that signals through the serotonin receptor 5-HT1A/SER-4, and a dopaminergic neuron that signals through the dopamine receptor DRD2/DOP-3. Aspects of this pathway are conserved in D. melanogaster.

Thus, blocking food odor signaling through antagonism of serotonin or dopamine receptors is a plausible approach to mimic the benefits of dietary restriction.

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