Protects DNA caps
Telomere
Also searched as Telomere.
You want it supported: maintaining telomeres defends the replicative reserve of youth.
In depth
Telomerase — the enzyme that maintains the protective caps on chromosomes, offsetting the shortening that limits cellular lifespan.
What drives it
Longevity gene increases it.
Palacios 2010, J Cell Biol 191:1299 — SIRT1 positively regulates telomere length in vivo and blunts age-related telomere shortening. PMID 21187328
What it drives
It reduces Cellular aging.
Bodnar 1998, Science 279:349 — introducing telomerase into normal human cells elongates telomeres and bypasses replicative senescence (reduced β-galactosidase), whereas telomerase-negative cells shorten telomeres and senesce. doi 10.1126/science.279.5349.349
It increases Stem cell reserve.
Telomerase activity is highest in stem and progenitor compartments - hallmark 2 acting on hallmark 8. doi 10.1016/j.molmet.2023.101755 · PMC12293478
It increases Female fertility.
The central finding is that reactive oxygen species ARE required, not merely harmful: ROS in the ovary regulate ovarian steroid hormone production, follicle synthesis, maturation, ovulation, and tubal function. ROS and antioxidant levels regulate the microenvironment of the follicular fluid, which determines which follicle becomes dominant. ROS can trigger ovulation in mature GRAAF follicles, and any change in this ROS level can disrupt ovulation. So an antioxidant claim here cuts both ways - the requirement is redox homeostasis, not suppression. Excess oxidative stress damages the oocyte through mitochondrial dysfunction, follicular atresia, meiotic errors, DNA damage and telomere shortening; too little disrupts the ovulatory trigger itself. Scale: infertility affects approximately 10-15 percent of couples, with nearly half the cases attributed to female reproductive dysfunction. doi 10.3390/antiox12081490 · PMID 40712896 · PMC10666387
Blends that modulate it
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