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Allianz Group Journal 2/2013
in relatively good health. Early this year Buffenstein
received the Longevity Research Award worth 15,000
euros from Allianz France and the French Healthcare
Association Les Associations de Prévoyance Santé for her
pioneering work.
AFRICA
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But when we look
at the East African naked mole rat everyone can only
agree with the British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace,
who described the tunnel digger as “an extraordinarily
KENYA
ETHIOPIA
SOMALIA
ugly species”. Its skin is already wrinkled at birth, its eyes
are covered by thick lids, and its protruding teeth are
enormous – Heterocephalus glaber, the “hairless otherheaded”,
is an evolutionary quirk.
The secret of longevity
Naked mole rats are able to remove damaged proteins to
prevent toxic build-up in their bodies. Their low metabolic
rate may also help to slow down aging. Naked mole rats
who can be found mainly in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia
are cancer-proof. They have a gene to prevent cancer-causing
cell mutation. They are also immune to pain.
A quirk admittedly that has fascinated scientists ever
since the animal was first described by the German
biologist Eduard Rüppell in 1842. This is partly due to
the fact that the naked mole rat lives in colonies that are
organized in a similar way to an ant or bee colony – a
unique social structure among mammals. The mousesize
animal also contradicts conventional wisdom that
small species have a shorter lifespan than larger ones:
Unlike mice, which usually survive for no more than
three years, naked mole rats can live for 30 years, biblical
by comparison, and remain healthy to boot.
The naked mole rat is thus a perfect research object
for scientists like Rochelle Buffenstein of the Barshop
Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies at the University
of Texas. The American is researching the cellular
mechanisms that permit the naked mole rat to age
Some might find it a bit disconcerting that the pinnacle
of creation is seeking analogies in a creature that fate has
so blatantly dealt a bad hand. But maybe naked mole rats
actually do carry the secret of longevity in their wrinkled
little bodies. There is at least some evidence that their
life expectancy is increased by sexual abstinence, calorie
restriction and constant physical activity. Still, with such a
life in prospect, we might ask “what for”?
Only the queen and one to three males provide offspring
in the colony. The others dig fresh tunnels the day long in
search of food, clean the burrow and look after the pups.
If the queen dies, the females next in line to the throne
often engage in violent fighting, shredding each other’s
wrinkly skins to the bone, sometimes with fatal consequences.
Males, on the other hand, don’t exactly fall over
themselves for a place at court. It is still unclear why
those who then come forward to mate with the queen
suddenly age rapidly – but we have our suspicions.
It’s also a mystery why, despite a high rate of incest, the
sausage-like Methuselahs rarely suffer from hereditary
diseases or why they don’t succumb to cancer or osteoporosis
in old age. Meanwhile, humans are living longer
even without solving the naked mole rat code. According
to the UN, there are already over 340,000 men and
women in the world who are one hundred years old or
older. In 2050 there will probably be ten times that many.
Statistically speaking, well-educated women have the
greatest chance of reaching 100. This adds a whole new
meaning to the phrase “learning for life”.
HTTP://BARSHOPINSTITUTE.UTHSCSA.EDU
340,000
3,400,000
2013 2050
CENTENARIANS
WORLDWIDE
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