Background Research:
Based on the press release, the research focuses on cortisol resistance and its role in stress and aging. Cortisol is a glucocorticoid that plays a crucial role in controlling inflammation within the body.
1. What is Cortisol?
Cortisol is a steroid hormone produced by our adrenal glands, situated just above our kidneys. It plays vital roles in many of our bodily processes including metabolism of glucose, regulation of blood pressure, insulin release for blood sugar maintenance, inflammatory response, and immune function.
2. What does it mean by „cortisol resistance“?
Cortisol resistance refers to the condition when body tissues become less responsive or unresponsive to the regulatory effects of cortisol hormones – essentially meaning that they do not respond effectively to cortisol even when levels are elevated.
3. How does Acetylation play a role here?
Acetylation is an important biological process involving the addition of an acetyl group onto molecules. In this study conducted by Professor Thorsten Heinzel’s team including other researchers from Friedrich Schiller University Jena and Leibniz Institute on Aging – Fritz Lipmann Institute (FLI), they examined how acetylation links with time-keeping or circadian clocks in cells to modulate how those cells respond to glucocorticoids like cortisol.
4. How could understanding this mechanism enhance effectiveness anti-inflammatory therapies?
Once scientists figure out how cells control their sensitivity to glucocorticoids like cortisol through acetylation process tied up with cellular clocks, it may offer opportunities for manipulation wherein medical practitioners could potentially adjust patients‘ responses towards anti-inflammatory therapies using glucocorticoids.
5.How can it help develop strategies against negative effects of stress- & age-related cortisol excess?
The understanding gained from such studies may provide professionals an opportunity for formulating strategies which can enhance cellular response towards excess stress or ageing related cortisol build-up; reducing likelihoods leading to health problems associated with long lasting high cortisol levels such as hypertension, diabetes and immune suppression.
6. What does the study’s funding by Carl Zeiss Foundation signify?
The Carl Zeiss Foundation is one of the oldest private and public-benefit foundations in Germany. By funding such projects, they support scientific research that can contribute to tackling challenges regarding individual healthcare issues.
FAQs:
1. Why is cortisol important?
Cortisol plays various crucial roles in your body like controlling inflammation, regulating metabolism of glucose, maintaining blood pressure and blood sugar level, managing inflammatory responses and sustaining immune function.
2. What causes cortisol resistance?
Long term exposure to either too much or too little cortisol might lead to developing cellular resistance against these hormones.
3. How can understanding acetylation help us manage stress better?
Understanding how acetylation affects cellular responses towards glucocorticoids like cortisol may offer opportunities for medically halting or reversing undesirable impacts of long-term stress on our health.
4. How could this research enhance current anti-inflammatory therapies?
This research paves way for making anti-inflammatory therapies more effective by providing insight into how cell sensitivity to glucocorticoids can be manipulated via acetylation tied with cellular clocks
5.What steps are being made towards mitigating age-related health problems through this study’s findings?
By understanding exactly how excess stress or ageing related cortisol builds up within cells using acetylation; scientists look forward towards devising strategies that may reduce chances leading up towards conditions associated with high prolonged levels of cortisol – including hypertension, diabetes and immune suppression among others.
6.Who funded the study?
The research was funded by Carl Zeiss Foundation under IMPULS Research Consortium which supports scientific excellence across diverse fields.
Originamitteilung:
Understanding the regulatory mechanism paves the way to enhance the effectiveness of anti-inflammatory therapies and to develop strategies to counteract the negative effects of stress- and age-related cortisol excess. The research group led by Prof. Thorsten Heinzel at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena, together with researchers from the Leibniz Institute on Aging – Fritz Lipmann Institute (FLI) in Jena and the University of Ulm, have now been able to clarify an important aspect of cortisol resistance. The study was funded by the Carl Zeiss Foundation as part of the IMPULS research consortium and was recently published in the journal „iScience“.