Plasma antioxidants and longevity: a study on healthy centenarians.
A large body of experimental research indicates that oxidative stress contributes to the processes related to aging and to the pathogenesis of several age-related diseases. Vitamins and antioxidant enzymes have a fundamental role in defending the organism from oxidative stress. To better understand the role of antioxidants in human aging, we measured plasma levels of vitamin C (ascorbic acid), uric acid, vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol), vitamin A (retinol), carotenoids, total thiol groups, and the activity of plasma superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPX) as well as the activity of red blood cell (RBC) SOD in 32 healthy centenarians-17 elderly subjects aged 80-99 years, 34 elderly subjects aged 60-79 years, and 24 adults aged less than 60 years. Considering the "noncentenarians" only, we observed a consistent behavior in the antioxidant pattern, with a decrease of the nonenzymatic antioxidants and an increase of the enzymatic antioxidant activities relative to age. Remarkably, centenarians were characterized as having the highest levels of vitamins A and E, whereas the activities of both plasma and RBC SOD, which increase with age, decreased in centenarians. From these results, it is evident that healthy centenarians show a particular profile in which high levels of vitamin A and vitamin E seem to be important in guaranteeing their extreme longevity.
Mecocci
P
P
Sezione di Gerontologia e Geriatria, Dipartimento di Medicina Clinica e Sperimentale, Università di Perugia, Perugia, Italy. geriat@unipg.it
Polidori
M C
MC
Troiano
L
L
Cherubini
A
A
Cecchetti
R
R
Pini
G
G
Straatman
M
M
Monti
D
D
Stahl
W
W
Sies
H
H
Franceschi
C
C
Senin
U
U
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000378:metabolism; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000378:metabolism*; D001205:Ascorbic Acid / Q000097:blood; D002338:Carotenoids / Q000097:blood; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000201:enzymology; D005260:Female; D005979:Glutathione Peroxidase / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D008136:Longevity; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018384:Oxidative Stress; D013438:Sulfhydryl Compounds / Q000097:blood; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase / Q000097:blood; D014527:Uric Acid / Q000097:blood; D014801:Vitamin A / Q000097:blood; D014810:Vitamin E / Q000097:blood; D014815:Vitamins / Q000097:blood*
D000975:Antioxidants; D013438:Sulfhydryl Compounds; D014815:Vitamins; D014801:Vitamin A; D014810:Vitamin E; D014527:Uric Acid; D002338:Carotenoids; D005979:Glutathione Peroxidase; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase; D001205:Ascorbic Acid