When heavy metals go off-kilter: Study in C. elegans shows excess iron promotes aging
Thursday, January 15, 2015 - 11:30
in Health & Medicine
It's been long known that some metals, including iron, accumulate in tissues during aging and that toxic levels of iron have been linked to neurologic diseases, including Parkinson's. Common belief has held that iron accumulation happens as a result of the aging process. But research in C. elegans shows that iron accumulation itself may also be a significant contributor to the aging process causing dysfunction and malfolding of proteins already implicated in the aging process.