Precision apoptosis

But why exactly are senescent cells so damaging? In their state of purgatory, they continuously release a soup of pro-inflammatory molecules called senescence-associated secretory phenotype (or SASP) which inflames surrounding tissues and causes dysfunction therein.

“The list of age-related diseases definitively linked to cellular senescence keeps growing, as does the number of biotech companies racing to develop drugs to eliminate senescent cells,” said Buck Institute for Aging professor Judith Campisi, Ph.D., in a study reported on by WaL earlier this year.

Grape seed extract can treat senescent cells by unleashing the powerful PCC1 upon their mitochondria. Treatment in vitro of senescent cells with the maximum dose of PCC1 killed 90% of them while even after doubling the maximum dose, normal healthy cells were totally unaffected.

In vitro tests were conducted on a variety of cells, including various fibroblasts, endothelial cells, and stem cells. In all cases, the senescent cells were cleared by the activation of apoptosis, the primary cellular cleanup and repair process in humans. To double-check, the researchers used an apoptosis-blocking compound, and sure enough, PCC1 lost its senolytic touch, and the zombie cells survived.

Additional tests were done and found that PCC1 promoted the regression of tumors, the lowering of resistance to chemotherapy drugs in the tumor microenvironment, and previous research has also shown that procyanidins like PCC1 can chelate metals (the scientific term for “detox”), scavenge free-radicals, prevent the production of reactive oxygen species, and reduce hyperperoxide formation. Quite the resume.

Grape seed extract supplementation

What then, can we garner from this research to use in our day-to-day lives? Plenty of research has been done on grape seed extract, though much of it in the animal feed industry. The seeds themselves make up between 38-52% of the dry weight of the fruit, and PCC1, the agent responsible for clearing senescent cells, is called a procyanidin, which belongs to the flavonoid class of polyphenols.

Procyanidin is a kind of proanthocyanidin. The latter is marketed in grape seed extract supplements as “OPC” or oligomeric proanthocyanidin, and will generally have its own milligram measurements: for example 1,000 milligrams of grape seed extract, and 150 milligrams of OPC.

It was already at the turn of this century that consumers began to turn to grape seed extract as a health supplement. Sun et al. used 20 milligrams per kilogram of body weight in their mouse exercise model, which amounts, for example, to 1,600 milligrams of PCC1 for a 180-pound man, or 1,200 milligrams for a 130-pound woman.

Most of us won’t be able to get synthesized PCC1 from a lab, and if consumers want to go on the supplement market, at the moment they must settle for the OPC metric. Some supplements will have much higher concentrations of OPC than others. Some will combine grape seed extract with resveratrol, another anti-aging and anti-inflammatory supplement, but resveratrol has its own dose-dependent metrics and particulars.

Although PCC1 injections appear to have been well tolerated in mice in preclinical trials, research is needed, the authors stress, to establish what constitutes a safe dose and whether these findings are applicable to humans.

One study of 29 healthy Japanese participants showed that doses of 1,000, 1,500, and 2,500 milligrams of proanthocyanidin-rich grape seed extract taken orally were generally safe and well-tolerated in humans.

Continue exploring this topic — Micronutrients — Our Diets Have Much Room for Mushrooms — Wild Ones in Particular

Continue exploring this topic — Aging — New Biomarker Discovered to Verify the Efficacy of Senolytics—Drugs that Clear Senescent Cells

Continue exploring this topic — Aging — Transplanting Microbes from a Young Mouse into an Old One Reverses Age-Related Cognitive Decline