KemSU Laboratory of Natural Nutraceuticals Bioassay finding out how to prevent premature aging

In 2018, the proportion of Russians aged 60 and over was 25.4 % of the country's population. According to the World Health Organization, this figure is projected to be 31.2 % by 2050. This tendency goes hand in hand with a rapid spreading of “old age diseases”, such as cardiovascular, neurodegenerative diseases, malignant neoplasms, and weakened immune system.

Researchers at the KemSU Laboratory of Natural Nutraceuticals Bioassay are implementing the project “Screening of Biologically Active Substances of Plant Origin with Geroprotective Properties, and Development of a Technology for Obtaining Nutraceuticals that Slow Down Aging”. L. S. Dyshlyuk, Candidate of Biological Sciences, associate professor of the Department of Bionanotechnology, became a project leader. According to scientists, the aging process can be slowed down by inclusion in food of components with geroprotective properties isolated from plants.

Unlike geriatric medications, which cure old people’s diseases and improve their life quality, geroprotectors can be used at a young and middle age. Medicinal plants serve as a source of raw materials for obtaining nutraceuticals, which possess geroprotective properties (flavonoids, polyphenols, glycosides, tannins). However, drug raw materials are increasingly scarce because of adverse environmental conditions and the constantly growing need for them. A new way to tackle the problem is to use culture cells (suspension, callus) and higher plant organs (hairy roots) as an alternative source of eco-friendly and renewable raw materials.

Direct speech

This is indeed an urgent and difficult task that requires close attention. In Siberian Federal District, there are a great number of medicinal plants – potential geroprotectors. We have already researched some of them and derived unique bioactive compounds from them. The goal of our future research is to study these compounds from the point of life expectancy increase.

Lyubov S. Dyshlyuk, Candidate of Biological Sciences, associate professor of the Department of Bionanotechnology, supervisor of the KemSU Laboratory of Natural Nutriceuticals Bioassay