Journal
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
Volume 11, Issue 1, Pages -Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-14785-0
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Funding
- European Research Count Advanced Grant [247041]
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council [EP/K005030/1]
- Wellcome Trust/Royal Society [102532/Z/12/Z, 102531/Z/13/A]
- MRC [MC-A6545QC80]
- NIH Office of Research Infrastructure Programs [P40 OD010440]
- EPSRC [EP/K005030/1] Funding Source: UKRI
- MRC [MC_UP_1605/6, MC_UP_1102/6] Funding Source: UKRI
- European Research Council (ERC) [247041] Funding Source: European Research Council (ERC)
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Genetic and environmental factors are key drivers regulating organismal lifespan but how these impact healthspan is less well understood. Techniques capturing biomechanical properties of tissues on a nano-scale level are providing new insights into disease mechanisms. Here, we apply Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) to quantitatively measure the change in biomechanical properties associated with ageing Caenorhabditis elegans in addition to capturing high-resolution topographical images of cuticle senescence. We show that distinct dietary restriction regimes and genetic pathways that increase lifespan lead to radically different healthspan outcomes. Hence, our data support the view that prolonged lifespan does not always coincide with extended healthspan. Importantly, we identify the insulin signalling pathway in C. elegans and interventions altering bacterial physiology as increasing both lifespan and healthspan. Overall, AFM provides a highly sensitive technique to measure organismal biomechanical fitness and delivers an approach to screen for health-improving conditions, an essential step towards healthy ageing.
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