Vertebrate aging research 2006

This Hot Topics review, the first in a projected annual series, discusses those articles, published in the last year, which seem likely to have a major impact on our understanding of the aging process in mammals and the links between aging and late-life illnesses. The year's highlights include studies of oxidation damage in the very-long-lived naked mole-rat, and of caloric restriction in monkeys, humans, and growth hormone-unresponsive mice. Two studies of resveratrol, one showing its ability to extend lifespan in a short-lived fish, the other demonstrating beneficial effects in mice subjected to a diet high in fat, may well be harbingers of a parade of intervention studies in the coming decade.