p53基因在小鼠衰老中的调控作用研究

A Study on the Role of p53 Gene in the Regulation of Mice Aging

为了探究小鼠衰老与p53之间的调控关系,我们选取3对年轻（4个月）与老年（20个月）的C57小鼠进行实验。首先发现老年小鼠相对年轻小鼠出现失明的衰老现象,HE染色表明衰老小鼠的视网膜结构出现了弥散现象;进一步发现老年小鼠出现脊椎弯曲以及脾脏中白髓数量减少的衰老现象。据报道,p53与小鼠衰老具有紧密的关系,因此我们检测了p53在老年小鼠眼球、睾丸、肝脏、皮肤、肺和肾等多种组织中表达,实验发现老年小鼠组织中,p53的蛋白水平明显升高。为了进一步明确p53基因在小鼠衰老中的作用,我们购买了p53＋/-小鼠,首先表明p53在p53＋/-小鼠中的表达明显下降。接下来观察年老的正常和p53＋/-小鼠的衰老表型变化,发现与正常小鼠相比较,p53＋/-老年小鼠衰老症状明显减轻（失明,毛色变黄和驼背）,这说明p53在衰老中发挥着重要作用。这些研究为我们理解衰老以及进一步开展衰老机制的研究提供新思路。

To investigate the correlation between aging and p53, we chosen 3 pairs of young and old mice. The aged mice developed blindness compared with young counterparts and HE staining results indicated that the retina was diffused in aged mice. In addition, signs of lordokyphosis and decreased white pulp regions in the spleen were obvious in aged mice. It was reported that p53 was invloved in mice aging. Therefore, we detected the expression of p53 in eye, testis, liver, skin, lung and kidney of mice and Western blot analysis indicated higher p53 levels in aged tissues than those in young mice tissues. Next, We bought the p53 ＋/-mice in order to understand the contribution of p53 levels in aging. Firstly, we found that the expression of p53 decreased in different tissues of p53＋/-mice compared to WT mice. Furthermore, we analyzed age-associated phenotypes in p53 ＋/-and WT mice.The physical parameters and the incidence of premature aging-associated phenotypes, including blindness, gray/yellow hair and lordokyphosis, were reduced in p53 ＋/-mice compared with those in WT mice. These results showed the important role of p53 in aging. This study provided a novel potential method in understanding the aging process and mechanisms.