Biomedical subjects

V R Aiello

Publications and source records attributed to V R Aiello.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1992

Lead accumulation in the bones of aging male mice.

The lead content of mouse femurs increased by 83% between 76 and 958 days of age with values ranging from 0.192 to 1.78 ng Pb/mg dry weight. These values are remarkably lower than in previous reports for the lead content of bone. The lead content of mouse liver showed no aging-related trend with values ranging from 0.00823 to 0.0149 ng/mg dry weight. Bone density, calcium and collagen content were not related to the lead content. We conclude that while bone lead content is very low in mice, it increases with aging but does not appear to be related to the osteopenia which develops in the C57BL/6J male mouse.

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PubMed1991

Ascorbic acid in Drosophila and changes during aging.

The ascorbic acid content of Drosophila melanogaster was found to be high in the absence of a dietary source. The amount of ascorbic acid per fly declined with aging in both the Oregon R and Swedish C strains. The median life span at 25 degrees C was 45 days for Swedish C and 59 days for Oregon R. The amount of ascorbic acid in Swedish C flies (0.078 micrograms/fly) was higher than that for Oregon R (0.058 micrograms/fly) for newly emerged flies but the rate of decline with aging was greater for Swedish C than Oregon R. The decline in ascorbic acid content with aging was 70.4% for Swedish C versus 19.9% for Oregon R. A brief cold shock was found to significantly increase the amount of ascorbic acid in Oregon R flies. Feeding the precursor of ascorbic acid synthesis, L-gulonolactone, did not improve the life span. Life-time feeding of ascorbic acid did not improve the life span of either Swedish C or Oregon R flies.

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PubMed1990

Changes in boron concentration during development and ageing of Drosophila and effect of dietary boron on life span.

Total boron concentrations in Drosophila changed during development and ageing. The highest concentration of boron was found during the egg stage followed by a decline during the larval stages. Newly emerged flies contained 35.5 ppm boron. During the adult stage the boron concentration increased by 52% by 9 weeks of age. Adding excess dietary boron during the adult stage decreased the median life span by 69% at 0.01 M sodium borate and by 21% at 0.001 M sodium borate. Lower concentrations gave small but significant increases in life span. Supplementing a very low boron diet with 0.00025 M sodium borate improved life span by 9.5%. The boron contents of young and old mouse tissues were similar to those of Drosophila and human samples. We conclude that moderate levels of dietary boron may have a general protective effect in biological systems. The mechanism of this effect at present remains unknown.

Aging↗

PubMed1990

Calcium, iron, copper, boron, collagen, and density changes in bone with aging in C57BL/6J male mice.

X-rays of old C57BL/6J male mice showed deformed vertebral columns. Bone density was found to increase between 76 and 517 days of age and to decrease after 685 days of age. The boron content of femurs declined by 9% with aging but the decrease was not significant. Calcium increased between 76 and 198 days of age but declined by 36% between 200 and 1000 days of age. Iron increased by 207% by 1000 days of age. Copper declined between 76 and 198 days of age but increased by 61% between 200 and 1000 days of age. Bone collagen as indicated by hydroxyproline and proline content decreased 17.4% by 1000 days of age. The largest single change with aging was, therefore, in the iron content of bone. Several correlations were found to be independent of the age of the animals. Bone density was correlated with bone calcium and collagen. Iron was negatively correlated with calcium and collagen. Calcium and collagen content were unrelated. Bone density and iron were also surprisingly unrelated. A possible explanation for this observation is given. Copper was negatively correlated with bone calcium, bone density, and collagen content. Excess copper was, therefore, the single most important factor associated with decreasing bone size and density.

Aging↗

PubMed1989

Calcium and calmodulin changes with ageing in C57BL/6J mice.

Male C57BL/6J mice ranging in age from 50 to 1186 days were used to measure total calcium and calmodulin concentrations. The increase in calcium between 0 and 1,000 days of age was 260% for kidney, followed by brain (189%), heart (173.5%), lung (106.5%) and liver (78.5%). Calcium in femur declined by 28.2%. The calmodulin content of liver increased with ageing. Both liver and kidney calmodulin concentrations declined early in life followed by ageing-related increases. Brain, lung and heart calmodulin concentrations did not change significantly with ageing. We conclude that changes in calcium homeostasis are not reflected in calmodulin changes. The loss of calcium in bone is consistent with the occurrence of osteoporosis in ageing C57 mice.

Aging↗

PubMed1988

Aluminum in the organs and diet of ageing C57BL/6J mice.

Total aluminum concentrations increased with ageing in the liver and kidney of male C57BL/6J mice, remained unchanged in brain and heart, and decreased with ageing in femur and lung for mice ranging in age from 56 to 1186 days. Ligating one kidney did not significantly increase aluminum concentrations in the various organs. Feeding 1 X 10(-2) M aluminum chloride (270 ppm Al) in the drinking water beginning at 604 days of age decreased the average life span by 6.7%. We conclude that very little aluminum accumulation occurs with ageing in the organs tested in this study, in spite of a high dietary intake. Other organs might show a change. Only one aluminum concentration was used in this study which accelerated the rate of ageing as indicated by a change in the survival curve. The effect of higher or lower aluminum concentrations remains to be seen.

Aging↗

PubMed1985

Iron accumulation during development and ageing of Drosophila.

We examined Drosophila melanogaster fruit flies to determine whether iron accumulates with ageing as it does in mice. Iron concentrations were measured by atomic absorption for flies maintained at 11, 20, 25 and 30 degrees C where the average lifespans were 152, 81, 62 and 25 days, respectively. Iron was found to accumulate with ageing during both the adult and developmental stages with an overall increase of 186% at 25 degrees C. A similar increase was found at 20 degrees C and 30 degrees C. At 11 degrees C the increase was less than half that at 25 degrees C. The rate of iron accumulation also varied with environmental temperature with the logarithm of the rate proportional to temperature (log R = 0.0509T-0.384). The rate of iron accumulation with ageing was, thus, found to be proportional to the rate of ageing, suggesting that excess dietary iron may be an initiator of senescence.

Aging↗

PubMed1985

Excess dietary aluminum increases Drosophila's rate of aging.

Aluminum concentrations in the whole organism increased during development and aging of Drosophila melanogaster. The amount of aluminum in the flies was also reflected by the dietary content of aluminum. Additional dietary aluminum, in the form of aluminum salts, decreased the life span by as much as 20%. A significant reduction in life span was found for 1 X 10(-4) M aluminum chloride and for 1 X 10(-3) M aluminum nitrate and aluminum sulfate. Dietary sodium fluoride failed to increase life span.

Aging↗

PubMed1979

Changes with age in cadmium and copper levels in C57BL/6J mice.

Cadmium concentrations in C57BL/6J male mice were found to increase with age in kidney from 0.1 ng/mg dry wt. at 45 days of age to 1.7 ng/mg dry wt. at 880 days of age. Cadmium in liver increased exponentially with age with a doubling time of 242 days, from a value of 0.03 ng/mg dry wt. at 45 days of age to 0.29 ng/mg dry wt. at 880 days of age. Kidney copper declined by only 14% between 45 and 400 days of age and remained unchanged between 400 and 880 days of age. Liver copper declined 41% between 45 and 500 days of age and showed no change between 500 and 880 days of age. Most of the decline in kidney and liver copper concentrations occurred before 240 days of age, possibly reflecting developmental changes. Feeding cadmium chloride in drinking water at concentrations of up to 100 microgram/ml did not change the copper concentrations in kidney, liver, heart or brain of young mice. Feeding copper gluconate did not change the cadmium concentration in livers of old mice. However, these treatments did change the cadmium/copper ratios in tissues.

Aging↗

PubMed1979

Changes with age in copper and superoxide dismutase levels in brains of C57BL/6J mice.

Superoxide dismutase activity in brains of male C57BL/6J mice decreased with age by 36% on a protein base and by 32% on a DNA base between 50 and 900 days of age. Brain copper increased by 45% up to 600 days of age and appeared to increase slightly from 600 to 900 days of age. Feeding of copper gluconate (5 x 10(-3)M) failed to change the level of copper in either young or old brain, and superoxide dismutase activity was not significantly increased or inhibited by copper feeding. Cupric chloride (2.35 x 10(-6)M) was found to inhibit purified superoxide dismutase (2 x 10(-8)M) by 50%. These observations indicate that brain copper concentrations do not directly determine the activity levels of the copper containing enzyme, superoxide dismutase, under normal ageing conditions.

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