Healthy Elderly, Healthy Young
Conditions
Keywords
healthy, young, elderly
Brief summary
The goal is to address the mechanisms that account for alteration of circadian rhythms with age. As the blood of aged individuals can produce this alteration, the investigators propose to use such blood samples to "age" circadian rhythms in cultured cells. The investigators will verify aged blood-dependent alteration of rhythms and then conduct molecular screens to reverse this decline. If the investigators identify specific genes that can restore molecular circadian rhythm in vitro, the investigators will explore these in animal models (Drosophila, mouse).
Interventions
Observational study without intervention
Sponsors
University of Pennsylvania
Study design
Observational model
CASE_CONTROL
Time perspective
CROSS_SECTIONAL
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
20 Years to 85 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* General good health with the following conditions permissible * cardiovascular risk prevention, intake of low dose aspirin, * hypertension, intake of beta-blockers, ACE inhibitors, diuretics, calcium channel blockers * hypercholesterinemia, intake of statins * Cases: 70-85 years of age * Controls: 20-35 years of age * Patients must be able to read and understand English * Participants must sign the informed consent form * Participants must have a wrist-actigraphy-based average TST (total sleep time) ≥ 6 hours per night (measured over 7 consecutive days) occurring between 22:00 - 08:00
Exclusion criteria
* Known history of severe psychiatric or cognitive conditions, for example mania, schizophrenia, or mental retardation * Shift work, defined as recurring work between 22:00-05:00 * History of clinically significant obstructive sleep apnea * Transmeridian travel across ≥2 time zones in the two weeks prior to the blood draws and one week after, * \> 2 drinks of alcohol per day * Use of illicit drugs
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Delta of period length measured in hh:mm between in vitro cycling fibroblasts incubated with serum collected from cases (elderly adults) versus controls (young adults) | Time point 14:00 Hours | To determine if serum collected from young versus old healthy study participants have a differential effect on the expression of circadian rhythms in an in vitro culture of a fibroblast cell line |
| Delta of phase measured in HH:mm between in vitro cycling fibroblasts incubated with serum collected from cases (elderly adults) versus controls (young adults) | Time point 14:00 Hours | The primary endpoint will be the difference in phase angle in vitro between cycling fibroblasts and incubated with serum collected from cases (old adults) versus controls (young adults) |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Chronotype | 4 weeks | Assessed per survey; chronotypes per Munich Chronotype questionnaire are extreme early type, moderate early type, slight early type, normal type, slight late type, moderate late type, extreme late type |
| Acrophase | 7 days | Clock hour of peak physical activity averaged from 7 or more days of actigraphy |
| Physical activity | 7 days | Vector magnitude of physical activity averaged from 7 or more days of actigraphy |
| Sleep quantity | 7 or more days | Hours of sleep averaged from 7 or more days of actigraphy |
| Sleep quality: actigraphy | 7 days | Sleep fragmentation averaged from 7 or more days of actigraphy |
| Ambient light exposure | 7 days | Ambient light exposure averaged from 7 or more days of actigraphy |
| Heart rate variability | 24 hours | Heart rate variability (RR intervals) averaged from 24 hours of BioPatch |
| Saliva cortisol | 24 hours | Difference in concentrations of cortisol measured in saliva between morning versus evening |
Countries
United States
Contacts
PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORCarsten Skarke, MD
University of Pennsylvania
Outcome results
None listed