Thursday, July 9, 2015

Intermittent Fasting Reduces Aging; and Systemic Sclerosis?

Intermittent fasting reduces aging;  and systemic sclerosis!  See commentary and article below.

If systemic sclerosis is both autoimmune and innate immunity related and the macrophage is the bridge between the two systems, INCREASING the macrophage's ability to phagocytosis or eat and destroy superfluous inflammatory inciters in their cytoplasm would regulate or re-regulate the inflammation of both systems!

Aging also degrades macrophage through reduced AUTOPHAGY leading to reduced protective function and increased degenerative function. 

One activity known to increase phagocytosis is INTERMITTENT FASTING or fasting once a week for 23-24 hours.  Restricting  carbohydrate and protein, but not fat, is required because the action of gene switching follows lowering of insulin and insulin growth factor 1.  I have performed weekly fasting for over 2 years.  On fasting days I substitute modified bulletproof coffee (containing coconut oil) i.e. coffee without glucose or protein, (stevia, heavy cream and 30 mls of MCT or coconut oil) for the 2 missed meals and snacks.  This provides beta hydroxybutyrate for brain energy needs that supplements stored glucose release from the liver.  This brief fasting turns on genes of longevity and regeneration, increases helper proteins called chaperones to correct misfolded proteins such as enzymes and lastly takes any superfluous trash or misfolded proteins and loose mRNA and recycles them through PHAGOCYTOSIS into usable elements that are harmless and not able to incite the inflamasome and degrade the macrophage cell purpose.

Increased PHAGOCYTOSIS is the opposite of reduced AUTOPHAGY ; improvement preserves the function of macrophages despite age, disease or disorder.  See abstract below.


Innate immune system involves toll like receptors and the inflamasome and is generally considered a form of individual cell immunity.  Adaptive immunity is the immune system to protect the organism such as antibodies and cellular immunity of macrophages and T lymphocytes.

Tony Liverman

Abstract

Macrophages provide a bridge linking innate and adaptive immunity. An increased frequency of macrophages and other myeloid cells paired with excessive cytokine production is commonly seen in the aging immune system, known as ‘inflamm-aging'. It is presently unclear how healthy macrophages are maintained throughout life and what connects inflammation with myeloid dysfunction during aging. Autophagy, an intracellular degradation mechanism, has known links with aging and lifespan extension. Here, we show for the first time that autophagy regulates the acquisition of major aging features in macrophages. In the absence of the essential autophagy gene Atg7, macrophage populations are increased and key functions such as phagocytosis and nitrite burst are reduced, while the inflammatory cytokine response is significantly increased - a phenotype also observed in aged macrophages. Furthermore, reduced autophagy decreases surface antigen expression and skews macrophage metabolism toward glycolysis. We show that macrophages from aged mice exhibit significantly reduced autophagic flux compared to young mice. These data demonstrate that autophagy plays a critical role in the maintenance of macrophage homeostasis and function, regulating inflammation and metabolism and thereby preventing immunosenescence. Thus, autophagy modulation may prevent excess inflammation and preserve macrophage function during aging, improving immune responses and reducing the morbidity and mortality associated with inflamm-aging.
© 2015 S. Karger AG, Basel


Article / Publication Details

Received: 6/13/2014 8:13:00 PM
Accepted: 11/25/2014
Published online: 3/10/2015
Issue release date: June 2015
Number of Print Pages: 17
Number of Figures: 6
Number of Tables: 2
ISSN: 1662-811X (Print)
eISSN: 1662-8128 (Online)
For additional information: http://www.karger.com/JIN


Open Access License / Drug Dosage / Disclaimer

Open Access License: This is an Open Access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (CC BY 3.0) (www.karger.com/OA-license-WT), applicable to the online version of the article only.
Drug Dosage: The authors and the publisher have exerted every effort to ensure that drug selection and dosage set forth in this text are in accord with current recommendations and practice at the time of publication. However, in view of ongoing research, changes in government regulations, and the constant flow of information relating to drug therapy and drug reactions, the reader is urged to check the package insert for each drug for any changes in indications and dosage and for added warnings and precautions. This is particularly important when the recommended agent is a new and/or infrequently employed drug.
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Mind Body Age = Cellular Energy + Regenerative Gene Expression6 - Degenerative Inflammation Activation

Energy + Regenerative Gene Expression - Degenerative Inflammation Activation = Metabolic Resilience OR Organism/Organ/Cell Age

Read first the conclusion of the paper linked below.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/imr.12295/pdf

The conclusion wrongly implicates obesity and not macrophage and micro glia (brain macrophage) activation or cellular innate immunity activation as the culprit in degeneration even though they showed evidence that calorie restriction and intermittent fasting blocked the activation of inflammatory macrophages ( whether fat or not, young or old.)  They also showed that NLRP3 knock out mice did not get age related inflamaging.

The evidence herein shows how BHB beta hydroxybutyrate from calorie restriction and/or coconut oil inhibits activation of damaging macrophages and microglia which prevents organ damage in the body and brain respectfully. 

Moreover, intermittent weekly fasting reduced many of the age related inciters of the innate immune system or inflamasome, through auto phagocytosis of waste in lysozymes rendering the molecules unable in their reduced elements to incite NLRP3, thereby prolonging quality of life and length of life.  This occurs at the beginning of a prolonged fast which has three actions, make essential proteins, activate cellular chaperones or folding helper proteins to correctly fold misfolded proteins and recycling of persistently misfolded proteins in lysosomes or chemical bags that convert molecules into elements for recycling.

The article more than hints that both "disease and conditions" are improved by blocking the inflamasome  of which NLRP3 is the initiator.  Moreover it also implicated crystals and clearing of crystals as important whether they be cholesterol, Uric acid or beta amyloid crystals in preserving cell, organ and organism integrity.  

The section on Vitamin D was also revealing as an agent to modify inflammatory response in all tissues and not just in bone osteoclasts.  The combination of vitamin D3 and K2 removes calcium crystals from atheromatous plaques thereby blocking the NLRP3 activation leading to atherosclerosis, ruptured plaques and/or aneurysmal rupture.