Loading...
Please wait, while we are loading the content...
How Old Are You? It's on Your Face!
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Wick, Georg |
| Copyright Year | 2017 |
| Abstract | an extensive collaborative study, Liu et al. [3] correlated perceived age by assessors looking at digital facial images of 2,693 elderly Dutch Europeans from the Rotterdam Study with the results of genome-wide association studies of these individuals. The strongest genetic associations with perceived age were found for multiple single nucleotide polymorphisms in the melanocortin 1 receptor ( MC1R ) gene. Individuals homozygous for a given MC1R risk haplotype on average looked up to 2 years older than noncarriers and this effect was independent of chronological age, sex, skin color, and sun damage (wrinkles, pigmented spots). Thus, MC1R seems to play a role in youthful looks that is independent of its known function in melanin synthesis. On a sideline, it is of interest to remember that the MC1R gene harbors a considerable amount of Neandertal sequences [4] , i.e., genetic information that may be related to cellular stress resistance. The evolutionary importance of face recognition is also supported by the fact that primates possess several special “face recognition spots” in their temporal brain lobes, as lucidly described for noninitiated readers by the Nobel laureate Eric Kandel [5] . Humans have three such “face spots,” monkeys at least five. Of note: we cannot discriminate faces – even from close acquaintances – if presented upside down. Perhaps the higher number of “face spots” in monkeys is due to the fact that they spend their life climbing on trees where recognizing faces from all perspectives is necessary. While these cortical areas allow for recognition of faces in general, a recent paper reported on the discovery of two additional areas that are destined to memory and thus recognition of known faces [6] . For the annual Editorials of Gerontology , I have made it a custom to first address an issue that may be of general interest for gerontological research. This time, I will briefly put forward some thoughts on the determination of an individual's biological age. The much faster pace of cultural as compared to biological evolution results in a significantly longer life expectancy of humankind and this process is still ongoing. However, it also becomes increasingly difficult to judge the biological age of elderly persons in relation to their known chronological age. So, depending on his/her genetic background and the exposure to certain environmental conditions, a 50-year-old can biologically correspond to a 70-year-old, while an octogenarian can intellectually and physically perform like a 50-year-old. While chronological age perfectly matches biological age in infants and young adults, this distinction becomes more uncertain with progressing age. So far, attempts to define laboratory or other markers for the biological age of a given person have met with limited success. Thus, for the selection of healthy human cohorts for immunogerontological research, the SENIEUR protocol was established several decades ago [1, 2] . This protocol is based on three groups of selection criteria, i.e., life history, laboratory values, and drug intake. Although the SENIEUR protocol proved to be helpful, it did not allow for the determination of the real biological age of a given presumably healthy study subject. In recent years, a new approach to define a person's biological age has afforded more satisfactory results: face analysis. In a nutshell, these studies show that face expression reflects our biological age surprisingly accurately. In Published online: November 23, 2017 |
| Starting Page | 105 |
| Ending Page | 106 |
| Page Count | 2 |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| DOI | 10.1159/000480108 |
| PubMed reference number | 29166632 |
| Journal | Medline |
| Volume Number | 64 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://www.karger.com/Article/Pdf/480108 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://doi.org/10.1159/000480108 |
| Journal | Gerontology |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
