title: Aging in the nervous system of Caenorhabditis elegans.
abstract: It has recently been described that aging in C. elegans is accompanied by the progressive development of morphological changes in the nervous system. These include novel outgrowths from the cell body or axonal process, as well as blebbing and beading along the length of the axon. The formation of these structures is regulated by numerous molecular players including members of the well-conserved insulin/insulin growth factor-like (IGF)-1 signaling and mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase pathways. This review summarizes the recent literature on neuronal aging in C. elegans, including our own findings, which indicate a role for protein with tau-like repeats (PTL-1), the homolog of mammalian tau and MAP2/4, in maintaining neuronal integrity during aging.
authors.affiliation: School of Molecular Bioscience; University of Sydney; Sydney, NSW Australia.
authors.forename: Yee Lian
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Chew
authors.forename: Xiaochen
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Jürgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Götz
authors.forename: Hannah R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Nicholas
keywords: Caenorhabditis elegans; aging; lifespan; neuronal aging; protein with tau-like repeats