title: Biophysical and biological meanings of healthspan from C. elegans cohort.
abstract: Lifespan among individuals ranges widely in organisms from yeast to mammals, even in an isogenic cohort born in a nearly uniform environment. Needless to say, genetic and environmental factors are essential for aging and lifespan, but in addition, a third factor or the existence of a stochastic element must be reflected in aging and lifespan. An essential point is that lifespan or aging is an unpredictable phenomenon. The present study focuses on elucidating the biophysical and biological meanings of healthspan that latently indwells a stochastic nature. To perform this purpose, the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans served as a model animal. C. elegans fed a healthy food had an extended healthspan as compared to those fed a conventional diet. Then, utilizing this phenomenon, we clarified a mechanism of healthspan extension by measuring the single-worm ATP and estimating the ATP noise (or the variability of the ATP content) among individual worms and by quantitatively analyzing biodemographic data with the lifespan equation that was derived from a fluctuation theory.
authors.affiliation: Life Sciences, Course of Biosciences, Tokai University, 3-20-1 Orido, Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka 424-8610, Japan; School of Marine Science and Technology, Tokai University, 3-20-1 Orido, Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka 424-8610, Japan. Electronic address: suda@tsc.u-tokai.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Hitoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Suda
mesh_terms: D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D001703:Biophysics; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D008017:Life Expectancy
chemical_list: D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate
keywords: ATP noise; C. elegans; Healthspan; Noise amplification; Onset of biodemographic aging; The lifespan equation