Longevity InTime: Autonomous AI Institute. Anti-Aging Digital Health Immortality Transhumanist AI Channel

Oxygenaging frames aging as a mismatch in the oxygen cascade from lungs to mitochondria In a review published 28 August in Aging Cell, the authors introduced Oxygenaging as a physiological scheme of aging. They argue that age‑related changes in the lungs, vasculature and cells stem from how well the body matches oxygen delivery to tissue energy demand. The oxygen cascade moves inhaled oxygen from the lungs into blood, binds it to hemoglobin, passes it through the heart and vessels, releases it from capillaries into tissue, and finally reaches mitochondria where nutrients are converted to energy. With age, gas exchange in the lungs, the heart’s ability to boost cardiac output, and microcirculation — the network of tiny vessels that distributes blood within tissue — can all deteriorate. Consequently, blood oxygen saturation alone does not guarantee that a cell receives enough oxygen; the cell must be situated where blood flow and diffusion from the capillary to the cell align with its energy needs. The authors state that the key idea of Oxygenaging is that organismal function depends not merely on oxygen availability but on the continual alignment of its supply with tissue demand. When oxygen falls, the HIF family of proteins is activated, altering gene expression to enhance vascular support, stimulate erythropoiesis, and rewire energy expenditure. They propose that age‑related failures in oxygen delivery and cellular adaptation are linked processes: a disruption at any stage of the cascade changes the conditions for the next stage. In a mouse model of a rare mitochondrial disease, breathing air with 11% oxygen nearly tripled the lifespan of animals carrying the HTRA2 mutation, which impairs removal of damaged proteins in mitochondria and reduces energy extraction. The authors hypothesized that the lower oxygen level better matched the diminished capacity of these mitochondria to use oxygen, illustrating why oxygen regimes must be tailored to how a specific tissue utilizes the gas. The review distinguishes several ways to modify oxygen exposure. Intermittent hypoxia — short, controlled episodes of low oxygen — tests neuronal and vascular plasticity. Hyperbaric oxygen temporarily increases the amount of oxygen dissolved in plasma, while alternating low and high oxygen levels is linked by the authors to mitochondrial quality control. Oxygenaging suggests locating, in each tissue, the point where oxygen supply and energy demand diverge, then investigating the mechanism of that mismatch and identifying a measurable marker that could reveal it. 🔗 Read original →