Cells communicate with each other in the form of so-called messenger substances. In the brain, these can be z.B. Dopamine, GABA, or acetylcholine. Immune cells use a different language and send out interleukins, such as IL-6. All these transmitters ensure that the various cells in our body can work together. However, with age, communication becomes increasingly difficult and prone to errors. In this article, we will show you through some examples what changes in our body, and we will also give you a few tips from research on how to address the changed intercellular communication .
What do we understand by intercellular communication?
Before we start the topic, we first need to clarify how cells communicate with each other.This is not as trivial as it may seem. If an immune cell suddenly discovers an intruder on its patrol through our vessels, it can only communicate this by using special messenger substances.
To give you a more understandable example, let's take a brief look at how our body brings sugar into the cells. When we consume carbohydrate-rich food, our blood sugar rises. These sugar molecules need to enter our cells,z.B. into the muscle cells, so that they can be converted into energy in the form of ATP with the help of the mitochondria .
However, the glucose molecules that are floating in our blood cannot enter the muscle cells on their own. Someone has to first open the "door" for them.This happens through the hormone insulin, which binds to the insulin receptor and thus opens the door for glucose molecules. After a meal, sugar can be quickly transported from the blood to its site of action. As you can see, there are different components in the language of cells:
- The Sender: In this case, the pancreas, which produces the hormone insulin and also releases it into the bloodstream
- The "Language": Imagine that each hormone (insulin, testosterone, cortisol), each neurotransmitter (dopamine, norepinephrine), and each mediator (interleukins) represents its own language
- The Receiver: In order for the spoken language to be understood, the recipient cells need receptors.Without this, a cell is insensitive to the signals, it does not "understand" the language
Insulin resistance – an aspect of altered intercellular communication
Let's stay with our example and look at how communication has changed over the years. Let's assume you regularly eat too much and unfortunately, your stressful everyday life has not really allowed you to exercise for years. What could happen now is one of the most common health issues in Germany. Your cells are becoming increasingly insulin resistant.
To stay with this fictional example: In the past, it was enough for your pancreas to release 10 units of insulin into the bloodstream after a plate of pasta, but today you need 20 units for the same amount of pasta.The reason? Your insulin receptors have become less sensitive to insulin. They now require more signaling molecules to even respond.
The tricky part is, you won't notice anything at first. Only when your pancreas exceeds its limit and the blood sugar level still does not decrease, then diabetes mellitus has manifested. You can find more about this in our article on insulin resistance.
Medicine provides a whole arsenal of different medications in the fight against diabetes. However, you don't have to let it get that far!
Changed cell communication – more than just sugar metabolism
As we age, many processes in the body change, not just sugar metabolism.Particularly noteworthy is the so-called Inflammaging. This neologism, which consists of the two words "inflammation" and "aging", has been defined as an independent Hallmark of Aging, as it plays a crucial role in the aging process.
Inflammatory processes are part of our body's daily life. What we perceive as fever or swelling during an illness is rather a massive communication between immune cells. However, it can also be significantly "quieter." For example, visceral fat tissue secretes certain hormones and inflammatory substances that are associated with various age-related diseases. This almost "silent" inflammation is one of the main aspects that apparently contributes to some diseases in old age.
Did you know? As you have already seen, a healthy blood sugar metabolism is essential for healthy aging. Especially in the early stages of insulin resistance, in addition to a dietary change, exercise and fasting two other substances can also help you. Berberine is a naturally occurring substance from the barberry and works in a similar way to the diabetes medication Metformin.
And inositol, which in clinical studies has been able to improve blood sugar control in women with PCOS. You can also find inositol in our innovatively formulated MoleQlar ONE.
Sirtuins act through
When inflammation is mentioned, our family of longevity genes is not far from the scene. We are of course talking about the Sirtuins, a gene family with seven members (see also Longevity Pathways). Several studies have shown that SIRT1 can downregulate inflammatory genes, among other things, via NF-kB.
A pharmacological activation of SIRT1 confirmed this finding, while a reduction, on the other hand, resulted in the development and progression of inflammatory diseases. SIRT2 and SIRT6 perform similar functions, albeit partly through different molecular pathways. The complex fabric of intercellular communication extends beyond inflammation.
The Bystander Effect: intercellular communication can also be different
“The likelihood of providing assistance (prosocial behavior) for individuals in an emergency situation decreases with the number of people present in that situation,” describes the Dorsch Lexicon for Psychology the term Bystander Effect. Nice and good, but what does this have to do with intercellular communication and aging?
The phenomenon that age-related changes in one tissue lead to age-specific changes in other tissuesfalls under the molecular biological understanding of the Bystander Effect. Let’s imagine that one immune cell “encourages” another to do nothing when the next bacterium appears, but just to watch.This is also somehow a form of spreading neglect of assistance, isn't it? Psychology and molecular biology are more closely intertwined in this regard than one might think.
In addition to inflammatory signaling molecules, there are other examples of "contagious aging". Senescent cells can trigger senescence in other, still healthy cells through direct contact. This process involves, among other things, free radicals (ROS) (see mitochondrial dysfunction). Likewise, impaired kidney function in humans can increase the risk of heart disease.
This bystander effect also has a positive side, as it works in reverse, as studies have shown. Interventions to extend lifespan that target a tissue can delay the aging process in other tissues. The molecular biology of psychology is ahead of that!
Restoration of faulty intercellular communication
We have now heard a lot about how faulty intercellular communication occurs. It's time to think about how to prevent it. That's exactly what research has also considered.
There are various ways to restore communication. Particularly relevant are various fasting methods to extend healthy lifespan and also the transfer of systemic factors that have been isolated from blood.Furthermore, the administration of anti-inflammatory agents such as acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) in mice showed an increased life expectancy.
Very exciting and still relatively unexplored is the gut microbiome. It is well known that the gut microbiome influences the function of the immune system and metabolism. Therefore, it seems possible to extend human lifespan by altering the composition of the gut bacteria ecosystem. You can find more about this in the article on the 11th Hallmark of Aging.
Threat and Resource
There is indeed compelling evidence that aging goes beyond the cellular autonomous level. There is a generalized change in communication between cells, which fortunately also offers intervention possibilities. Similar to stem cell exhaustion, many characteristics of aging have altered intercellular communication as the endpoint.
The small disruptions at the level of the individual cell due to genomic instability or telomere shortening result in a general reaction that sometimes brings benefits and sometimes harm. The balance increasingly shifts towards harm with aging.
However, based on the bystander effect, it can also be seen that the body's adaptability in old age can be both a threat and a resource. The question remains how we can concretely utilize this resource. This answer is still owed to us by research.
Bioavailable Berberine capsules with chromium and zinc in the mineral complex Berbersome.
Altered intercellular communication – Conclusion
Our cells communicate with each other every day in various languages, completely unnoticed by us. Only with age, when the changes in intercellular communication become noticeable, do we feel some of the consequences. Depending on which cells are affected, we can already take action today. Especially regarding insulin resistance, there is very good data that sufficient exercise, a healthy diet, fasting, and supplements, such as berberine, can reverse insulin resistance.
In the next article of this series, we will discuss the tenth hallmark of aging: Inflammaging.
MoleQlar ONE combines the potential of 13 carefully selected molecules, vitamins, and minerals. The research-based composition and dosage are aligned with the Hallmarks of Aging.
