A team funded by the SENS Research Foundation has developed an improved system for evaluating methods of lipofuscin removal in cells. Lipofuscin, a mix of many different forms of hardy metabolic waste, builds up in tissues with age. It clogs up lysosomes, the cellular recycling units, causing them to become bloated and dysfunctional. As all forms of cellular garbage accumulate due to this issue, cells themselves become dysfunctional or die. This is a significant and damaging problem in long-lived cell populations, such as those of the central nervous system. The compounds involved in the lipofuscin mix found in the retina, for example, directly contribute to the progressive age-related blindness caused by macular degeneration. Elsewhere in the body lipofuscin accumulation is implicated in the pathology of a range of age-related diseases. Clearing these waste compounds is an important goal in the development of rejuvenation therapies to treat aging by addressing its root causes.

Link: http://www.scientific-publications.net/en/article/1001002/