title: Positive effects of prolonged caloric restriction on the population of very small embryonic-like stem cells - hematopoietic and ovarian implications.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Low calorie intake, or calorie restriction (CR) without malnutrition, has been demonstrated in several animal species, including mice, to increase both median and maximum lifespan as well as delay reproductive senescence. Our previous work demonstrated a positive correlation between life span and the number of very small embryonic-like stem cells (VSELs) in long living Laron dwarf mice. These animals have very low levels of circulating insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) in peripheral blood (PB), maintain higher numbers of hematopoietic stem cells (HSPCs) in bone marrow (BM), and display prolonged fecundity compared with wild type littermates. Since CR lowers the level of IGF-1 in PB, we become interested in the effect of CR on the number of VSELs and HSPCs in BM as well as on the morphology of ovaries and testes.
  
  
  METHODS
  In our studies four-week-old female and male mice were subjected to CR by employing an alternate-day ad libitum feeding diet for a period of 9 months.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We observed that mice on CR had a higher number of BM-residing VSELs than control mice fed ad libitum. These changes correlated with higher numbers of HSPCs in BM, spleen, and peripheral blood (PB) as well as with an increase in the number of primordial and primary follicles in ovaries. At the same time, however, no changes were observed in the testes of mice under CR.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We conclude that CR positively affects the pool of VSELs in adult tissues and explains the positive effect of CR on longevity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology at Pomeranian, Medical University, Szczecin, Poland.
authors.forename: Katarzyna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Grymula
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology at Pomeranian, Medical University, Szczecin, Poland.
authors.forename: Katarzyna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Piotrowska
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology at Pomeranian, Medical University, Szczecin, Poland.
authors.forename: Sylwia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Słuczanowska-Głąbowska
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology at Pomeranian, Medical University, Szczecin, Poland.
authors.forename: Katarzyna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mierzejewska
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology at Pomeranian, Medical University, Szczecin, Poland.
authors.forename: Maciej
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tarnowski
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology at Pomeranian, Medical University, Szczecin, Poland.
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tkacz
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology at Pomeranian, Medical University, Szczecin, Poland.
authors.forename: Agata
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Poniewierska-Baran
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology at Pomeranian, Medical University, Szczecin, Poland.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pędziwiatr
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology at Pomeranian, Medical University, Szczecin, Poland.
authors.forename: Ewa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Suszyńska
authors.affiliation: Department of Histology and Developmental Biology, Pomeranian Medical University, Szczecin, Poland.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Laszczyńska
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology at Pomeranian, Medical University, Szczecin, Poland ; Stem Cell Institute at the James Graham Brown Cancer Center, University of Louisville, 500 S. Floyd Street, Rm. 107, Louisville, KY 40202, USA.
authors.forename: Mariusz Z
authors.initials: MZ
authors.lastname: Ratajczak
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D001772:Blood Cell Count; D001835:Body Weight; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000378:metabolism; D031204:Caloric Restriction; D003114:Colony-Forming Units Assay; D053595:Embryonic Stem Cells / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D010053:Ovary / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D039904:Pluripotent Stem Cells / Q000378:metabolism*; D013737:Testis / Q000378:metabolism; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D014157:Transcription Factors
keywords: Bone marrow; Calorie restriction; Longevity; Ovaries; Testes; VSELs