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This investigation was supported by I + D grants from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (BFU2011-23888 to G. Barja); UCM Groups of Research (910379ENEROINN), BFU2011-30336, and RETICEF (RD 12/0043/0018) from ISCIII-FEDER of the European Union to M. De la Fuente; Spanish Ministry of Health (PI11/01532) to M. Portero Otin; and Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (BFU2009-11879) and the Generalitat of Catalonia (2009SGR735) to R. Pamplona.

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Gomez, JoseAuthor
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Lifelong treatment with atenolol decreases membrane fatty acid unsaturation and oxidative stress in heart and skeletal muscle mitochondria and improves immunity and behavior, without changing mice longevity

Publicated to:Aging Cell. 13 (3): 551-560 - 2014-06-01 13(3), DOI: 10.1111/acel.12205

Authors: Gomez, Alexia; Sanchez-Roman, Ines; Gomez, Jose; Cruces, Julia; Mate, Ianire; Lopez-Torres, Monica; Naudi, Alba; Portero-Otin, Manuel; Pamplona, Reinald; De la Fuente, Monica; Barja, Gustavo

Affiliations

Univ Complutense Madrid, Fac Biol Sci, Dept Anim Physiol 2, Madrid, Spain - Author
Univ Lleida IRBLLEIDA, Dept Expt Med, Fac Med, Lleida, Spain - Author

Abstract

The membrane fatty acid unsaturation hypothesis of aging and longevity is experimentally tested for the first time in mammals. Lifelong treatment of mice with the 1-blocker atenolol increased the amount of the extracellular-signal-regulated kinase signaling protein and successfully decreased one of the two traits appropriately correlating with animal longevity, the membrane fatty acid unsaturation degree of cardiac and skeletal muscle mitochondria, changing their lipid profile toward that present in much more longer-lived mammals. This was mainly due to decreases in 22:6n-3 and increases in 18:1n-9 fatty acids. The atenolol treatment also lowered visceral adiposity (by 24%), decreased mitochondrial protein oxidative, glycoxidative, and lipoxidative damage in both organs, and lowered oxidative damage in heart mitochondrial DNA. Atenolol also improved various immune (chemotaxis and natural killer activities) and behavioral functions (equilibrium, motor coordination, and muscular vigor). It also totally or partially prevented the aging-related detrimental changes observed in mitochondrial membrane unsaturation, protein oxidative modifications, and immune and behavioral functions, without changing longevity. The controls reached 3.93years of age, a substantially higher maximum longevity than the best previously described for this strain (3.0years). Side effects of the drug could have masked a likely lowering of the endogenous aging rate induced by the decrease in membrane fatty acid unsaturation. We conclude that it is atenolol that failed to increase longevity, and likely not the decrease in membrane unsaturation induced by the drug.

Keywords
Adrenergic beta-1 receptor antagonistsAgingAnimalsAntagonistsAtenololCaloric restrictionDamageDisruptionDnaFatty acid unsaturationFatty acids, unsaturatedFemaleHeart rateHypertensionLiverLongevityMaleMethionine restrictionMiceMice, inbred c57blMice, inbred dbaMitochondria, muscleMitochondrial proteinsMuscle, skeletalOxidative stressRatsReactive oxygen speciesSpan

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Aging Cell due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2014, it was in position 2/50, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Geriatrics & Gerontology.

From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from the Field Citation Ratio (FCR) of the Dimensions source, it yields a value of: 1.89, which indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: Dimensions May 2025)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-05-18, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 20
  • Scopus: 22
  • Europe PMC: 15
  • OpenCitations: 21
Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-05-18:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 36.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 36 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 12.608.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 3 (Altmetric).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.