Researchers: Christoph Handschin
Exercise and diet are powerful interventions to prevent and ameliorate various pathologies. The development of pharmacological agents that confer exercise- or caloric restriction-like phenotypic effects is thus an appealing therapeutic strategy in diseases or even when used as life-style and longevity drugs. Such so-called exercise or caloric restriction “mimetics” have so far mostly been described in pre-clinical, experimental settings with limited translation into humans. Interestingly, many of these compounds activate related signaling pathways, most often postulated to act on the common downstream effector peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ coactivator 1α (PGC-1α) in skeletal muscle. In this review, resveratrol and other exercise- and caloric restriction “mimetics” are discussed with a special focus on feasibility, chances and limitations of using such compounds in patients as well as in healthy individuals.
References
- Of mice and men: the benefits of caloric restriction, exercise, and mimetics.
- Lack of exercise is a major cause of chronic diseases.
- Metabolic effects of resveratrol: addressing the controversies.
- Rapamycin, but not resveratrol or simvastatin, extends life span of genetically heterogeneous mice.
- Resveratrol delays age-related deterioration and mimics transcriptional aspects of dietary restriction without extending life span.