Antihypertensive mechanisms of spermidine

The incidence of cardiovascular disease increases exponentially with aging. In Austria, almost a fifth of the general population is above 65 years, and thus novel medical therapies that extend healthy aging are needed more than ever. In their recently FWF-funded project, Dr. Abdellatif and his colleagues aim to achieve this goal. Specifically, they aim to study vascular stiffening and increased blood pressure, which affects a majority of elderly individuals and is considered the single leading cause of death worldwide. The research team located at the Department of Cardiology, Medical University of Graz will examine the use of spermidine, a natural compound that mimics the benefits of fasting without reducing food intake. The rationale behind this is that caloric restriction (ie, reduced caloric intake without malnutrition) has been shown to reduce high blood pressure and lower the risk of cardiovascular disease, but because fasting is hard to adhere to and might cause undesirable side effects on bone density and immunity, to which the elderly individuals are particularly vulnerable, safe and effective pharmaceutical alternatives are urgently needed. Towards this end, the researchers will employ state-of-the-art tools and techniques to decipher novel mechanisms regulating vascular health both experimentally and clinically with the aim to promote healthy aging and provide novel effective treatments that can be applied on on a whole population level.