Hypoxia and aging

Abstract

Aging: Low oxygen levels promote aging-associated diseases Deficient oxygen supplies to the body’s tissues and a reduced ability to deal with the cellular stress of low oxygen availability both contribute to the ageing process. Eui-Ju Yeo from Gachon University in Incheon, South Korea, reviews the links between insufficient oxygen, a condition known as hypoxia, and the functional decline associated with getting old. Yeo highlights the role that the oxygen-sensing proteins known as hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs) play in facilitating oxygen supply and regulating energy production under limited oxygen conditions. HIFs also interact with a series of signaling proteins that, when abnormally activated, contribute to many aging-associated diseases. Yeo singles out two hypoxia-related health problems, prenatal hypoxia during early brain development and obstructive sleep apnea, and discusses how they can accelerate aging in various ways.