What to make of C60 fullerenes in olive oil for life extension?
The famous Baati study, The prolongation of the lifespan of rats by repeated oral administration of [60] fullerene [1] is now mired in controversy; ignored by most serious scientists. In this monograph, I’ll try and unpick what this paper really found in an attempt to shed some light on the enduring mystery.
To be upfront, I don’t suspect fraud. I think that Baati stumbled upon something extraordinary. But like so many papers, the authors didn’t understand their results, they made some errors in presentation, and others failed to replicate the results [2]. So their results get dismissed. Another non-replicating paper for the dustbin?
I’m going to put forward an alternative explanation for the mechanism of action for C60 in olive oil and its effect on the lifespan of rats. It by no means is a complete explanation. But it does suggest an angle for further investigation.
Firstly, the lifespan study ’design’ was ad hoc. It actually wasn’t intentional, as they stopped it early due to the death of one of the controls; attributed to oral gavaging (forced feeding via a tube). For the 7 months of treatment, they gavaged two of the three groups of rats with 1ml of olive oil a day (the control was gavaged with water). That might not sound like much, but for an animal the weight of a human that scales up to 9 or 10 tablespoons. Quite a lot! The rats probably weren’t hungry after having that quantity of olive oil rammed down their throats. In fact, I wonder if this could have triggered a state of keto genesis.
I’ve been ketogenic for extended periods. There are significant changes to the body when it switches to burning fats for energy. Extended lifespan from keto is possible as it replicates many of the effects of calorie restriction, including weight loss [3]. Now you may counter that the olive oil treated rats had the same weight as controls. But they were only treated for 7 months of their life. And there is precedent for temporary diets to have lasting effects when powerful, mitochondrial antioxidants are involved (as C60 is supposed to be [4]).
For example, Dietary lipoic acid supplementation can mimic or block the effect of dietary restriction on life span is instructive [5]. In one of the experiments, ALA locked-in the (shorter) lifespan of ad libitum fed mice, even when ALA dosing ceased and food was subsequently restricted. In another group, switching from dietary restriction to ad libitum plus ALA caused a restoration of normal weight, but preserved the lifespan benefits of calorie restriction.
To sum up, it is at least plausible that large quantities of olive oil could put mice into a ketogenic state, and that the dosing of C60 in that oil could extend the effects of that diet beyond its cessation. This explanation indicates why replication may have failed. No one else has gavaged large quantities of olive oil into their animals. Other experiments also used mice[2], not rats - and interestingly mice are not as well adapted to fat burning as rats, as evidenced by this paper where they showed murine ability to uncouple mitochondria is worse than rats across multiple tissues [6].
Whilst on the subject of uncoupling, it is interesting to note that C60 is hypothesised to absorb protons from mitochondria [4], which reduces the potential energy available to drive ATP production, enabled by the re-entry of those protons to the mitochondria. This is similar to what uncoupling does, whereby protons are permitted re-entry via the pore rather than the ATP complex. Either way, you decrease mitochondrial efficiency and increase respiration rate. This is very useful when you are trying to absorb lots of fats [7], and the poor mitochondria can’t go fast enough.
This is interesting for understanding keto, but why exactly would this extend life? I’ve got some tentative ideas. The functionality of the mitochondrial network sets the optimal cell size [8], and beyond this cell size growth is accomplished by increased glycolysis in the cytoplasm, not increased respiration. Many regard cell size as central to aging [9], with large cells being old cells and driving organism level aging. Making cells rely on mitochondria is a good way to stop cell growth beyond the optimum size; fat burning requires working mitochondria.
There is a whole life extension community devoted to stem cell rejuvenation using C60 [10]. This popular protocol combines C60 with stearic acid. Stearic acid is a long, saturated fat. It requires lots of rounds of beta oxidation, with lots of FADH2 made to feed into mitochondria. Stearic acid is known to trigger mitochondrial fusion in vitro and in vivo [11],[12] and I suspect other mitochondrial adaptations like uncoupling as well. I predict that eating stearic acid is a powerful inducer of ketogenesis. As to the claimed stem cell benefits, it is well known that saturated fats trigger stem cell renewal, for example in the intestine [13]. This is likely a fasting mimicking effect; the body is drawing down on reserves so flicks cellular switches to self-renewal rather than differentiation..
I leave you with a final thought: didn’t Jean Calment consume large quantities of chocolate, olive oil (and wine)?
References:
1. Baati T, Bourasset F, Gharbi N, Njim L, Abderrabba M, Kerkeni A, Szwarc H, Moussa F. The prolongation of the lifespan of rats by repeated oral administration of [60]fullerene. Biomaterials. 2012 Jun;33(19):4936-46. doi: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2012.03.036. Epub 2012 Apr 10. Erratum in: Biomaterials. 2012 Sep;33(26):6292-4. PMID: 22498298.
2. Grohn KJ, Moyer BS, Wortel DC, Fisher CM, Lumen E, Bianchi AH, Kelly K, Campbell PS, Hagrman DE, Bagg RG, Clement J, Wolfe AJ, Basso A, Nicoletti C, Lai G, Provinciali M, Malavolta M, Moody KJ. C60 in olive oil causes light-dependent toxicity and does not extend lifespan in mice. Geroscience. 2021 Apr;43(2):579-591. doi: 10.1007/s11357-020-00292-z. Epub 2020 Oct 29. PMID: 33123847; PMCID: PMC8110650.
3. Kennedy AR, Pissios P, Otu H, Roberson R, Xue B, Asakura K, Furukawa N, Marino FE, Liu FF, Kahn BB, Libermann TA, Maratos-Flier E. A high-fat, ketogenic diet induces a unique metabolic state in mice. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 2007 Jun;292(6):E1724-39. doi: 10.1152/ajpendo.00717.2006. Epub 2007 Feb 13. Erratum in: Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 2007 Dec;293(6):E1846. Roberson, Russell [added]. Erratum in: Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 2009 May;296(5):E1179. PMID: 17299079.
4. Chistyakov VA, Smirnova YO, Prazdnova EV, Soldatov AV. Possible mechanisms of fullerene C₆₀ antioxidant action. Biomed Res Int. 2013;2013:821498. doi: 10.1155/2013/821498. Epub 2013 Oct 8. PMID: 24222918; PMCID: PMC3816026.
5. Merry BJ, Kirk AJ, Goyns MH. Dietary lipoic acid supplementation can mimic or block the effect of dietary restriction on life span. Mech Ageing Dev. 2008 Jun;129(6):341-8. doi: 10.1016/j.mad.2008.04.004. Epub 2008 Apr 22. PMID: 18486188.
6. Andrews ZB, Horvath TL. Uncoupling protein-2 regulates lifespan in mice. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 2009 Apr;296(4):E621-7. doi: 10.1152/ajpendo.90903.2008. Epub 2009 Jan 13. PMID: 19141680; PMCID: PMC2670629.
7. Maassen JA, Romijn JA, Heine RJ. Fatty acid-induced mitochondrial uncoupling in adipocytes as a key protective factor against insulin resistance and beta cell dysfunction: a new concept in the pathogenesis of obesity-associated type 2 diabetes mellitus. Diabetologia. 2007 Oct;50(10):2036-41. doi: 10.1007/s00125-007-0776-z. Epub 2007 Aug 22. PMID: 17712547; PMCID: PMC2039833.
8. Miettinen TP, Björklund M. Cellular Allometry of Mitochondrial Functionality Establishes the Optimal Cell Size. Dev Cell. 2016 Nov 7;39(3):370-382. doi: 10.1016/j.devcel.2016.09.004. Epub 2016 Oct 6. PMID: 27720611; PMCID: PMC5104693.
9. Lengefeld J, Cheng CW, Maretich P, Blair M, Hagen H, McReynolds MR, Sullivan E, Majors K, Roberts C, Kang JH, Steiner JD, Miettinen TP, Manalis SR, Antebi A, Morrison SJ, Lees JA, Boyer LA, Yilmaz ÖH, Amon A. Cell size is a determinant of stem cell potential during aging. Sci Adv. 2021 Nov 12;7(46):eabk0271. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abk0271. Epub 2021 Nov 12. PMID: 34767451; PMCID: PMC8589318.
10. https://www.longecit...with-c60/page-1
11. Senyilmaz D, Virtue S, Xu X, Tan CY, Griffin JL, Miller AK, Vidal-Puig A, Teleman AA. Regulation of mitochondrial morphology and function by stearoylation of TFR1. Nature. 2015 Sep 3;525(7567):124-8. doi: 10.1038/nature14601. Epub 2015 Jul 27. PMID: 26214738; PMCID: PMC4561519.
12. Senyilmaz-Tiebe D, Pfaff DH, Virtue S, Schwarz KV, Fleming T, Altamura S, Muckenthaler MU, Okun JG, Vidal-Puig A, Nawroth P, Teleman AA. Dietary stearic acid regulates mitochondria in vivo in humans. Nat Commun. 2018 Aug 7;9(1):3129. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-05614-6. PMID: 30087348; PMCID: PMC6081440.
13. Barisas DAG, Stappenbeck TS. Intestinal Stem Cells Live Off the Fat of the Land. Cell Stem Cell. 2018 May 3;22(5):611-612. doi: 10.1016/j.stem.2018.04.018. PMID: 29727673.