FGF signals are key to keep tissues healthy and to slow down aging. Here's what you should know:
- What FGFs Do: FGFs (Fibroblast Growth Factors) are proteins that help cells grow, fix, and make new ones. They are needed for healing cuts, keeping skin stretchy, and holding muscles and bones strong.
- Why It Matters: As you get older, FGF making and how well they work go down. This leads to slow healing, weaker muscles, thinner skin, and joint problems.
-
Key Findings:
- FGF levels fall a lot with age (e.g., FGF-2 mRNA goes down by up to 63% in older people).
- Aging messes up how cells talk and fix things, making tissue damage worse.
- Making FGF signals stronger can better heal wounds, fix bones, and keep tissues healthy.
- Solutions: New ways include direct FGF use (e.g., gels, nanoparticles) and making more natural FGF with drugs or plant stuff.
FGF studies are making new ways to fight aging by making our bodies' fix systems better.
Fibroblast Growth Factor 21 and Survival in the Elderly: Polsenior2 Study Results | Aging-US
How FGF Signals Work
FGF signals play a big role in helping cells grow, fix themselves, and keep their jobs - acts that fight off aging.
How FGF Receptors Turn On
Turning on FGF receptors is a step-by-step event that starts when FGF proteins find their targets. In mammals, the FGF group has 22 proteins split into six smaller groups based on how they work [6]. These proteins meet up with four types of receptors in people - FGFR1 to FGFR4 - which are receptors sitting across the cell wall [8].
The action starts when FGF bits first meet their receptors. More so, FGF bits join with heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPGs) to make a 2:2:2 set-up, which starts a chain reaction in the receptors.
Once it's all set up, this hook-up makes the receptors pair up and kick off a chain inside the cell. The woken up receptors serve as signal spots, pulling in and tagging other signal proteins like FRS2α, PLCγ, STATs, PI3K, and MAPK. This kick-off starts a wave inside the cell that handles key jobs like cell growth, change, movement, living, and form. Main paths used in this are Ras/Raf-MEK-MAPKs, PI3K/AKT, PLCγ, and STAT [1]. These waves push key fix and upkeep jobs.
Jobs in Cell Care and Fix
FGF signaling is key for fighting cell wear and tear seen with age. Once on, it manages jobs like cell growth, change, moving, and living - making sure tissues stay well long term [3]. A big job is in fixing and renewing tissue. When hurt, FGF proteins run the fix job across different cell types. For example, FGF helps new blood paths form, both directly and not, by acting on many cell types [7].
FGF signaling also helps in changing tissue by pushing a shift that boosts cell move and helps heal cuts. Studies show that in skin cuts treated with a special FGF2, edge cells move faster, making healing quick [3].
Beyond fixes, FGFs can also put off cell aging by making cells live longer, holding back cell death, and lessening old cell action [9]. These perks reach the brain too. For example, giving old and diabetic mice FGF21 has been found to drop brain decay and swelling, showing promise for fighting age-linked mind slow down [9]. Also, FGFs play a big role in managing swelling, a big part of aging.
Tests on animals show how good FGF signals can be. Studies have found that FGF1 and FGF2 can speed up wound healing, help fix diabetic foot sores, fix spine hurts, and help broken bones heal faster [9]. FGFs do this by changing how other factors in the regenerative answer work, letting many healing steps work well together [10].
How Aging Stops FGF Signals
As we get old, our body's skill in keeping good FGF signals goes down. This happens as cells react less and talking between them starts to fail.
Less Cell Talk with Age
Aging hits FGF signals by cutting down the making of FGF-2. Studies on human cells found that FGF-2 mRNA was 53% lower in middle-aged people (47–56 years old) and 63% lower in older people (65–76 years old) than in young women aged 27–38 years [11].
It's not only about making less FGF-2 - cells also show fewer spots for it. FGFR1 mRNA fell by 52% in middle-aged folks and by 27% in older ones compared to young adults. Also, the main level of FGFR1 protein was 49% lower in older people [11]. With not enough working spots, cells don't react well to FGF signals.
Another key part, β-catenin, also goes down with age. In older folk, β-catenin mRNA was 63% lower, and its protein was 32% lower [11]. These drops together harm the cell's response to key growth signals.
At the same time, aging messes up how cells talk, mainly through the process called cellular senescence.
Messed-Up Cell Chat
Cellular senescence - a main sign of aging - stops FGF response. Studies find that old human cells stop growing or moving when told by FGF signals, leaving them dead to fix plans [9].
To make it worse, old cells send out bad stuff like interleukin 1α, which stops the growth of good cells near them. This starts a chain effect, hurting the chat between cells more [9]. For instance, old HUVECs (human cells) don't react to FGF signals [2].
This bad chat hurts stem cells, which need FGF signals to keep working and making new cells. When stem cells get hit by senescence, they may stop working or vanish [2].
These shifts start a harsh loop: as more cells get old and can't talk to FGF, fixing slows down. This brings more cell hurt and a drop in the body's power to fix and heal itself.
How FGF Signals Change Different Body Parts As We Get Old
FGF signals help fix cell damage, but when they get low, they change how our body parts age. This drop in signals changes not just how we look but also how our bodies work. Each body part needs certain FGF signals to stay well. As these signals get weak, the usual signs of getting old show up more. This shows how big the effect of losing FGF signals is.
Skin Gets Old and FGF Signals
FGF signals are key in keeping skin tight and smooth. For instance, FGF-1 helps make collagen and elastin, which keep skin stretchy, while FGF-2 cuts down on wrinkles by making new skin cells and waking up fibroblasts and keratinocytes [12]. As we get older, fibroblasts work less, making less collagen, elastin, hyaluronic acid, and chondroitin. At the same time, enzymes that break these down work more. Skin creams with growth factors can fight these effects by making the skin thicker and growing more collagen [13].
Changes in Muscles and Bones As We Age
Broken FGF signals also hit muscles and bones, both key for moving and being strong. FGF-2 helps fix muscles, but when its signal is off, muscles shrink and get more fat inside. This mix hurts not just strength but also how muscles stay in shape over time.
In bones, FGF-18 is needed to make cartilage and bone, which keep joints healthy [14]. A drop in this signal can lead to issues like stiff joints and weaker bones. Also, FGF-21 might slow growth by fighting growth hormone effects, and FGF-1 might make bone marrow cells make more fat than bone [14]. Plus, as we age, our muscles have less SPARC, a protein that keeps muscles in good shape, adding to more fat and less reaction to growth signals [4].
All these changes in muscles and bones change how we look and cut down on how well we can move, how strong we are, and how we stand up to bone breaks as we get older.
sbb-itb-4f17e23
Healing Uses of FGF Changes
Many scientists now focus on how changing fibroblast growth factor (FGF) can help fix body parts and fight the bad effects of old age. By using FGF's role in cell care, two main methods have come up: putting in FGFs directly and making the body make more FGFs.
Ways to Put FGF Directly
Putting FGFs right into body parts has been good in making new skin, muscle, and bone. But, free FGFs break down fast because of spread and enzymes, making them less strong [15].
To fix this, experts made new ways to keep FGF proteins safe from breaking down and keep them working. These ways are porous frames, gel-like stuff, and tiny bits. Porous frames and gel-like stuff give a 3D space that helps cells stick and move. Tiny bits work well for sending FGFs everywhere in the body or in food form [15].
For example, in a muscle fix study, they used collagen-gelatin mixes to carry FGF2 and FGF6 genes. They saw a big jump in cell growth and muscle repair over a few days [15].
Making More Natural FGF
Another method is to help the body make more FGF. This can be done with small drugs that wake up FGFR, tiny RNA adjusters, or stress setups like low oxygen and high heat [9].
Lab-made FGFs, made stronger, are often sent in using slow-release gels to keep the repair signals steady. In one case, this lab-made FGF2 made wound healing faster by aiding cells change roles [9].
Also, some plant-based things show promise as healing agents. These natural items help cells grow and keep stem cells young, all the while being safe [16].
MASI Longevity Science and FGF-Related Work
MASI's anti-aging goods help fix cells by using known science paths. By looking at FGF signals - a main part in aging - MASI makes items that fit with the body’s own fix ways. Their study goes deep into cell paths, setting the base for their new goods.
The company’s items are made to hit key aging spots using well-picked parts. Two top goods, NMN and Spermidine, are made to boost organ health and new growth. These items show the new know-how of FGF signals and their part in cell health.
Study-Based Product Making
MASI’s good making is deep in study from top places. For example, their NMN mix is based on study that shows NAD⁺ parts are key in keeping cell work. Study shows that NMN can make bones grow, cut fat in old mice, and save ends of cells with SIRT1 work [17].
On the other side, the Spermidine good is backed by study on its role in starting autophagy and mitophagy - key cell clean-up jobs that drop with age [17]. Study shows that spermidine does this by boosting key signs and stopping mTOR, a path tied to aging [17].
Tests also back these ways. In one test with 30 old adults, spermidine use made memory better in those who felt their mind was getting worse [17]. Like this, NMN has helped save against harm to kidneys and heart, while also making blood vessels work better through SIRT1 work [17].
MASI’s way sees that aging often leads to bad mitophagy, which adds to cell power house issues, more cell harm, and swelling [18]. By tackling these main issues, their goods work with the body's own fix ways, adding to the perks linked to FGF signal paths.
Quality Rules and Tests
MASI makes sure of top quality by using strong study for their mixes. All goods are made in Germany with best local parts and are tested alone in Switzerland for pureness, safety, and work.
Their goods are safe for vegans and free from GMOs, soy, lactose, and gluten, giving a clean choice for cell health. MASI meets and goes past FDA rules, with each set checked well alone to make sure of quality and safety.
With a big group of over 352,000 members, MASI has built trust by always giving top-notch, study-driven goods. Their push to bring edge-cutting old age science to all has made their name strong in the field.
Main Points on FGF Signals and Getting Older
Fibroblast Growth Factor (FGF) signals, with 18 key proteins and 4 receptor tyrosine kinases, are key in keeping up tissue growth, fix, and overall care [5]. These signals are key for fixing tissues and dealing with wear from aging.
FGFs help keep cells young and growing, cutting down aging in cells, or senescence, in many tissues [2]. This is big for keeping skin, muscles, and bones healthy as we age.
When FGF signals mess up, it can cause like bad joint health. For instance, FGF1 and FGF8 are tied to cartilage getting worse, while FGF18 helps fix it. In muscles, weak FGF signals mess with satellite cell work, hurting muscle fixing [5][19].
FGF1 and FGF2 have shown big use in healing skin cuts, diabetic sores, spine hurts, and bone breaks fast. These uses are okay for clinical use in places like China and Japan [3]. On a big scale, endocrine FGFs are key in handling body-wide metabolic and mineral balance, key for keeping muscle and bone health [5].
With these facts, new treatments that boost cell renewal look like strong anti-aging fixes. MASI, for one, fits with these new steps by making NMN and Spermidine mixes. These goods aim to help the body’s natural FGF-aided fix ways by working on cell renewal and mitochondria health.
FAQs
How does less FGF signaling change aging in the skin, muscles, and bones?
As we age, the drop in FGF signaling affects key body parts like the skin, muscles, and bones. This drop leads to both looks and how they work changing.
In the skin, less FGF signaling lowers how much collagen and elastin - two key proteins for firm and stretchy skin - are made. So, the skin starts to sag, wrinkles show up, and healing gets slower over time.
For muscles, FGF signaling is key to fix them by turning on special cells that mend muscle damage. With less signaling, this adds to sarcopenia, a state where muscle mass, strength, and the power to keep going drop as muscle fixing gets worse.
For bones, FGF signaling is key to reshaping them. A drop in this process hurts the balance between bone making and breaking, leading to weaker bones, more breaks, and issues like osteoporosis.
In short, it's key to keep FGF signaling strong to help fix tissues and slow down aging changes in these vital areas.
