Masoro E J, Yu B P, Bertrand H A, Lynd F T
Fed Proc. 1980 Dec;39(14):3178-82.
It has long been known that food restriction markedly increases the length of life of rats and other laboratory rodents. It has been further shown that life-prolonging food restriction delays the occurrence or slows the progression of those diseases believed to limit the life span of the animal. However, the mechanisms responsible for this increase in longevity and for the delay in occurrence of age-associated disease are not known. Surprisingly little work hs been done on the effect of these life-prolonging dietary regimens on the many changes in physiological processes and biochemical characteristics that occur with age. Since biochemical and physiological explorations might well provide the information needed to investigate the basic mechanisms underlying these actions of food restriction, such a study was initiated in our laboratory. It was found that in most of the age-related functions studied changes were delayed or partially prevented by food restriction. Our studies provide a start in analyzing the mechanisms by which food restriction prolongs life and delays disease and it is to be anticipated that future research along this line will not only further define these mechanisms but in addition should greatly contribute to our knowledge of the aging process.
长期以来，人们都知道食物限制能显著延长大鼠和其他实验啮齿动物的寿命。进一步的研究表明，延长寿命的食物限制能延缓那些被认为会限制动物寿命的疾病的发生或减缓其发展。然而，导致寿命延长以及与年龄相关疾病发生延迟的机制尚不清楚。令人惊讶的是，关于这些延长寿命的饮食方案对随着年龄增长而发生的许多生理过程和生化特征变化的影响，所做的研究很少。由于生化和生理学探索很可能提供研究食物限制这些作用背后基本机制所需的信息，我们实验室启动了这样一项研究。结果发现，在大多数所研究的与年龄相关的功能中，食物限制延缓了变化或部分预防了变化。我们的研究为分析食物限制延长寿命和延缓疾病的机制提供了一个开端，可以预期，沿着这条线的未来研究不仅将进一步明确这些机制，而且还将极大地增进我们对衰老过程的认识。
