Publications by authors named "R I Brooke"

Aging is the major risk factor for most human diseases and represents a major socio-economical challenge for modern societies. Despite its importance, the process of aging remains poorly understood. Epigenetic dysregulation has been proposed as a key driver of the aging process.

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Epigenetic clocks, built on DNA methylation patterns of bulk tissues, are powerful age predictors, but their biological basis remains incompletely understood. Here, we conducted a comparative analysis of epigenetic age in murine muscle, epithelial, and blood cell types across lifespan. Strikingly, our results show that cellular subpopulations within these tissues, including adult stem and progenitor cells as well as their differentiated progeny, exhibit different epigenetic ages.

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Article Synopsis
  • Aging is the main cause of many diseases and is a big challenge for society because we don't fully understand how it works.
  • A specific change in how our genes are controlled, called H3K9me3, might play a big role in aging, but we don't know exactly how yet.
  • Research using special mice showed that losing H3K9me3 leads to faster aging, less lifespan, and health problems, suggesting that fixing epigenetic changes could help slow down aging.
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Exercise is a potent stimulus for combatting skeletal muscle ageing. To study the effects of exercise on muscle in a preclinical setting, we developed a combined endurance-resistance training stimulus for mice called progressive weighted wheel running (PoWeR). PoWeR improves molecular, biochemical, cellular and functional characteristics of skeletal muscle and promotes aspects of partial epigenetic reprogramming when performed late in life (22-24 months of age).

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Article Synopsis
  • Scientists discovered that using special genes (called OSKM) can make old cells younger and help them think better.
  • They tested this on older rats and found that the ones treated with OSKM did better in memory tests than those that didn't get the treatment.
  • The OSKM treatment didn't cause any harm, and it also changed the DNA in the rats' brains in a way that showed signs of "youthfulness."
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