JP5220415B2 - Amino acid composition for preventing or treating senile anemia - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to the technical field of anti-aging. The present invention relates to a technique for preventing aging particularly in the proliferation of red blood cells.

  With aging and aging, not only changes that appear on the surface of the body, such as wrinkles on the skin, hair loss, and white hair, but the function of the body gradually declines and various symptoms appear. Examples include diseases such as hypertension, myocardial infarction and angina, increased risk of diabetes due to decreased insulin production, osteoporosis, senile cataract and senile anemia.

  As a countermeasure against aging, various health foods and therapeutic drugs have been developed including folk remedies.

  For example, since melatonin decreases with aging, administration of melatonin to neurodegenerative diseases caused by aging has been studied, and in recent years, melatonin or its related substances (Patent Document 1: US Pat. No. 5,403,851) has an antiaging effect. It is said that. Further, the action of melatonin is mediated by HGH, and growth hormone is also used as an anti-aging agent (Annu Rev Med. 2003; 54: 513-33. Epub 2001 Dec 3).

  In addition, active oxygen generated in the body causes damage to cells and DNA, lipid peroxidation, etc., and there are various effects due to involvement in many diseases, and the use of antioxidants to contain active oxygen is studied For example, vitamin C, vitamin E and the like are used, use of α-tocopherol and its analog (JP-A-8-277282), and radical scavengers have been developed (JP-A-9-241636). issue).

  Furthermore, among the various symptoms associated with aging, there is a report that “active oxygen” generated in the body induces anemia and immunodeficiency in relation to anemia (Non-patent Document 2).

For senile anemia, as herbal medicine, for example, ginseng (carrot), 蒼朮 (jujutsu) or birches (bakujutsu), 茯苓 (bakuryo), licorice (licorice), ginger (shoyu), daikon (taiso), acid 棗Kami Kaishou-yu consisting of Jin (Sangoonin), Longan (Longan), Toshi (Onji), Toki (Otogi), Twilight (Ogi), Mika (Mokkou), Saiko (Psycho) and Shishi (Shishi) It has been known.
US Pat. No. 5,403,851 JP-A-8-277282 JP-A-9-241737 Annu Rev Med. 2003, 54, 513-33. Epub 2001 Dec 3 Nature 431, 997-1002

  Since anemia is frequently observed with aging, the first task is to develop a therapeutic agent effective in preventing senile anemia.

  Furthermore, since the aging process will progress further in the future, a second problem is to provide an anti-aging agent with low side effects and low cost.

  The inventor of this application has found that an amino acid composition having a specific composition is effective in improving senile anemia. Specifically, the present inventor is an amino acid composition comprising aspartic acid (Asp), alanine (Ala), arginine (Arg), isoleucine (Ile), glycine (Gly), glutamic acid (Glu), serine ( Ser), tyrosine (Tyr), tryptophan (Trp), threonine (Thr), valine (Val), histidine (His), phenylalanine (Phe), proline (Pro), methionine (Met), lysine (Lys) and leucine ( This is the first discovery that an amino acid composition containing Leu) as an active ingredient has the ability to improve and recover senile anemia.

  Furthermore, the inventor of the present application has found that the amino acid composition having the above composition recovers the expression of a gene whose expression decreases with aging, and has repeatedly studied the amino acid composition to complete the present invention.

  A senile anemia prevention agent or senile anemia therapeutic agent comprising the amino acid composition of the present invention as an active ingredient enables safe and inexpensive treatment for senile anemia, which is expected to increase in the future. Furthermore, the amino acid composition of the present invention can prevent a decrease in cell function associated with aging, and has an overall inhibitory effect on the aging phenomenon.

  This specification includes the contents described in the specification and / or drawings of Japanese Patent Application No. 2005-257764, which is the basis of the priority of the present application.

FIG. 1 shows the average expression level of genes other than erythrocyte differentiation-related marker genes among the genes listed in Table 3. The expression level was calculated based on the relative expression level of each gene by standardizing the results of DNA microarray analysis using Microarray Suite 5.0 (MAS 5.0) (Affymetrix) based on the expression level of young mice at 1.5 months of age. . Error bars are standard deviation. FIG. 2 shows the expression level of the erythroid differentiation-related marker gene among the genes listed in Table 3. FIG. 3 shows the amount of hemoglobin in the peripheral blood of each group of mice immediately before the start of amino acid administration. FIG. 4 shows the amount of hemoglobin in the peripheral blood of each group of mice after amino acid administration. FIG. 5 shows blood hemoglobin levels after amino acid administration in young mice. At 5 weeks of age in ICR mice, after feeding on a diet with or without amino acid added for 5 months, blood was collected from the abdominal vena cava and the amount of hemoglobin was measured. The blood hemoglobin level of each group of young mice was measured with hemoglobin B-Test Wako. The amino acid non-administration control group is n = 6, and the amino acid mixture 1 administration group is n = 7. In the figure, AAM1 represents the group administered with amino acid 1 FIG. 6 shows the effect of ingesting an amino acid mixture on skeletal muscle loss in aged mice. A group of mice administered with amino acid mixture 2 is shown as AAM2, a group of mice administered with amino acid mixture 3 is shown as AAM3, and a group of mice administered with amino acid mixture 4 is shown as AVM. Between the different alphabets in the figure, after one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), a significant difference was recognized at p <0.05 by the least significant difference method (LSD method). FIG. 7 shows the effect of amino acid intake on muscle anabolism in young mice. A group of mice administered with amino acid mixture 2 is shown as AAM2, a group of mice administered with amino acid mixture 3 is shown as AAM3, and a group of mice administered with amino acid mixture 4 is shown as AVM. A significant difference was observed between the different alphabets in the figure after p one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and p <0.05 by the Newman-keuls multiple comparison method. FIG. 8 shows blood hemoglobin levels of young mice. The group of mice administered with amino acid mixture 2 is shown as AAM2, the group of mice administered with amino acid mixture 3 is shown as AAM3, and the group of mice administered with amino acid mixture 4 is shown as AVM. FIG. 9 shows the hematocrit value of young mice. A group of mice administered with amino acid mixture 2 is shown as AAM2, a group of mice administered with amino acid mixture 3 is shown as AAM3, and a group of mice administered with amino acid mixture 4 is shown as AVM.

1. Introduction Anemia is simply a symptom, and is caused directly by reduced production of erythrocytes, decreased synthesis of hemoglobin, increased destruction of erythrocytes, and the causes are different.

  For example, the decrease in red blood cell production is caused by (i) decreased erythropoietin production due to renal failure, (b) abnormal hematopoietic stem cells seen in aplastic anemia, (c) bone marrow of leukemia or cancer, etc. Are listed. Moreover, the decrease in the synthesis of hemoglobin is cited as a cause of lack of iron, and treatment according to each cause is necessary.

1-1. Senile anemia Juvenile anemia is often caused by iron deficiency. The cause of anemia due to aging has not been fully elucidated, but in contrast to juvenile anemia, it decreases the number of hematopoietic stem cells associated with aging of the bone marrow, shortens the lifespan of produced red blood cells, and atrophy of the gastric mucosa. It has been cited as a cause of a decrease in the amount of nutrient absorption that accompanies it.

  Therefore, first, the present inventor analyzed gene expression in the spleen. As a result, ankyrin, which is a major glycoprotein that forms the cytoskeleton of erythrocytes, further iron uptake, enzymes involved in heme synthesis, etc. It was found that the expression level decreased due to aging. Furthermore, as a result of analyzing gene expression, the present inventor has found that one of the causes is a decrease in production of red blood cells and suppression of differentiation into red blood cells.

1-2. Development and differentiation of blood cells Red blood cells are derived from hematopoietic stem cells, erythroblast burst-forming cells (BFU-E: burst-forming-unit-erythroid), erythroblast colony-forming cells (CFU: colony-forming-unit-erythroid), It is thought to be produced by differentiation from pre-erythroblasts, erythroblasts, reticulocytes, and erythrocytes. Recently, the expression levels of transcription factors GATA-1 and GATA-2 are different in the differentiation stage of erythrocytes, GATA-1 is expressed in erythroblasts and pro-erythroblasts, GATA-2 is a hematopoietic stem cell, It has been shown that expression is seen in undifferentiated cells such as bone marrow stem cells. It has been reported that GATA-2 expression exceeds GATA-1 expression in erythroblast burst-forming cells, and GATA-1 expression exceeds GATA-2 expression in erythroid colony-forming cells. (Experimental Medicine 2004, Vol22, No.3, 361-366).

  According to the study of the present inventor, it was found that the expression of GATA-1 decreases with aging, while the expression of GATA-2 increases about 2-fold. Furthermore, the expression levels of transferrin receptor gene (CD71) and EPO receptor gene, whose expression levels increase at the differentiation stage after CFU-E, also decreased with aging, and differentiation into erythrocytes was suppressed with aging. I found out.

2. Amino acid composition and senile anemia, cell aging inhibition, muscle anabolism promotion and muscle catabolism inhibitionThe present inventor experimentally found that an amino acid composition having a specific composition is effective in improving senile anemia, Furthermore, it was clarified from the expression status of related genes that these improvements were caused by preventing the suppression of differentiation into erythrocytes due to aging.

  In addition, the administration of an amino acid composition having a specific composition restores the expression level of genes related to the maintenance of cell growth that decreases due to aging. It has been found that it can be used as an agent for the above, in other words, as a cell aging inhibitor.

Furthermore, an increase in muscle weight was observed by administration of an amino acid composition having a specific composition under exercise conditions similar to intake of similar nutrients (calories). I found that it can be promoted. Moreover, since suppression of the reduction | decrease in the muscle weight of an old mouse | mouth was recognized by administration of the amino acid composition of a specific composition, it discovered that the said amino acid composition can suppress the catabolism of the muscle accompanying aging. Therefore, it is considered that the amino acid composition described above is effective in suppressing muscle loss and maintaining muscle weight in elderly people, nutritional disorders and sick people.

The amino acid composition is also effective when a growing human or athlete wants to actively increase muscle mass. Furthermore, if the above amino acid composition is used for obesity or lifestyle-related patients or their reserve army, an efficient increase in basal metabolic rate due to an increase in muscles is expected, which can be used to prevent obesity and lifestyle-related diseases. The improvement is also expected to be effective.

3. Composition of amino acids (hereinafter, amino acids may be indicated by a three-letter code)
As an amino acid composition used in the present invention, an anti-senile anemia agent and a therapeutic agent for senile anemia containing an amino acid composition containing the essential amino acids Ile, Trp, Thr, Val, His, Phe, Met, Lys and Leu as active ingredients Cell anti-aging agent, muscle anabolic promoter or muscle catabolism inhibitor.

  The present invention also provides an amino acid composition comprising one or more amino acids selected from the group consisting of Arg, Glu and Pro in addition to Ile, Trp, Thr, Val, His, Phe, Met, Lys and Leu. A senile anemia prevention agent, a senile anemia treatment agent, a cell aging prevention agent, a muscle anabolic promoter or a muscle catabolism inhibitor contained as an active ingredient is included. Furthermore, the present invention relates to one or more amino acids selected from the group consisting of Arg, Glu and Pro in addition to Ile, Trp, Thr, Val, His, Phe, Met, Lys and Leu, and further Asp, Ala, An anti-senile anemia agent, an anti-senile anemia treatment agent, a cellular anti-aging agent, a muscle anabolism promoter, or an amino acid composition to which one or more amino acids selected from the group consisting of Gly, Ser and Tyr are added Includes muscle catabolism inhibitors.

  Preferably, an anti-senile anemia agent, an anti-senile anemia therapeutic agent comprising an amino acid composition containing Arg, Ile, Glu, Trp, Thr, Val, His, Phe, Pro, Met, Lys and Leu as an active ingredient, Cell aging inhibitor, muscle anabolic promoter or muscle catabolism inhibitor, and an amino acid composition further containing Asp, Ala, Gly, Ser and / or Tyr as an active ingredient as an optional additive to the amino acid composition A senile anemia prevention agent, a senile anemia treatment agent, a cell aging prevention agent, a muscle anabolic promoter or a muscle catabolism inhibitor is included.

  Specifically, the amino acid composition comprises Asp, Ala, Arg, Ile, Gly, Glu, Ser, Tyr, Trp, Thr, Val, His, Phe, Pro, Met, Lys and Leu as active ingredients. Senile anemia prevention agent, senile anemia treatment agent, cell aging prevention agent, muscle anabolic promoter or muscle catabolism inhibitor contained as

  Each amino acid constituting the amino acid composition of the present invention may be a free amino acid or a pharmaceutically or food acceptable salt. For example, each amino acid may be hydrochloride, lactate, and the like.

  Examples of the amino composition of the present application include the following.

3-1. Anti-senile anemia, senile anemia treatment agent, cell anti-aging agent, muscle anabolism promoter or muscle comprising an amino acid composition comprising Ile, Trp, Thr, Val, His, Phe, Met, Lys and Leu as an active ingredient Catabolic inhibitor.

  In the present invention, an amino acid composition consisting of Ile, Trp, Thr, Val, His, Phe, Met, Lys and Leu as an active ingredient, in wt%, Ile 5-20%, Trp 13-25%, Contains 5-15% Thr, 5-15% Val, 1-8% His, 10-20% Phe, 0.5-5% Met, 8-18% Lys and 5-17% Leu And a senile anemia prevention agent, a senile anemia treatment agent, a cell aging prevention agent, a muscle anabolism promoter, or a muscle catabolism inhibitor.

  Specifically, by weight, Ile 11.9%, Trp 18.5%, Thr 10.8%, Val 10.6%, His 4.2%, Phe 15.0%, Met 3.7%, Lys 13.3%, Leu A senile anemia inhibitor, a senile anemia treatment agent, a cell aging inhibitor, a muscle anabolism promoter, or a muscle catabolism inhibitor.

3-2. An elderly person containing as an active ingredient an amino acid composition to which one or more amino acids selected from the group consisting of Arg, Glu and Pro are added in addition to Ile, Trp, Thr, Val, His, Phe, Met, Lys and Leu Antianemic agent, therapeutic agent for senile anemia, cell antiaging agent, muscle anabolism promoter or muscle catabolism inhibitor.

  In the present invention, by weight, Arg 10-20%, Ile 5-20%, Glu 10-25%, Trp 1-10%, Thr 5-15%, Val 5-15% , 1-8% His, 1-10% Phe, 1-10% Pro, 0.5-5% Met, 1-10% Lys and 10-20% Leu as an active ingredient A senile anemia prevention agent, a senile anemia treatment agent, a cell aging prevention agent, a muscle anabolic promoter, or a muscle catabolism inhibitor.

More specifically, by weight, Arg is 16.0%, Ile is 11.5%, Glu is 17%, Trp is 3.8%, Thr is 9.4%, Val is 9.5%, His is 3.8%, Phe is 3.8%, Anti-senile anemia, senile anemia treatment agent, cell anti-aging agent, muscle anabolism promoter comprising amino acid composition of Pro 5.0%, Met 2.5%, Lys 3.8% and Leu 14% Or a muscle catabolism inhibitor is included.

3-3. An anti-senile anemia agent comprising an amino acid composition comprising Asp, Ala, Arg, Ile, Gly, Glu, Ser, Tyr, Trp, Thr, Val, His, Phe, Pro, Met, Lys and Leu as an active ingredient, A therapeutic agent for senile anemia, a cell aging inhibitor, a muscle anabolic agent or a muscle catabolism inhibitor.

  Furthermore, the present invention includes, by weight%, Asp 0.1-5%, Ala 1-10%, Arg 1-10%, Ile 1-10%, Gly 5-15%, Glu 1- 10%, Ser 1-5%, Tyr 3-15%, Trp 1-10%, Thr 1-12%, Val 1-10%, His 1-8%, Phe 1-10 %, Pro is 10-20%, Met is 0.1-5%, Lys is 8-18%, and Leu is 1-10%. An anemia treatment agent, cell aging inhibitor, muscle anabolic agent or muscle catabolism inhibitor is included.

More specifically, by weight percent, Asp 0.2%, Ala 4.3%, Arg 4.9%, Ile 4.7%, Gly 11.4%, Glu 3.7%, Ser 2.1%, Tyr 8.6%, An amino acid composition in which Trp is 3.6%, Thr is 6.8%, Val is 5.5%, His is 3.2%, Phe is 5.0%, Pro is 16.5%, Met is 0.6%, Lys is 12.5%, and Leu is 6.4%. Examples include senile anemia prevention agents, senile anemia treatment agents, cell aging prevention agents, muscle anabolic promoters or muscle catabolism inhibitors as active ingredients.

4). Form of use of the composition of the present invention
Although the usage form of the amino acid composition of the present invention is not particularly limited, it can be used for food and drink, for nutritional supplement and for medical use. In the case of edible use, the amino acid composition of the present application can be edible as it is, but can also be used as an additive to various foods. In addition, the composition of the present invention can be dissolved in water to make a beverage. In this case, other nutritional components such as aqueous vitamins and taurine can be further added. Moreover, in order to improve palatability, it can also be set as a drink by adding salts, such as sodium chloride, acids, such as a citric acid, and / or other suitable flavors. A pH adjusting agent and a chelating agent can be further added for stability.

  Also in the case of medical use, it can be used by a general administration route such as oral administration, rectal administration, injection, administration by infusion. For oral administration, it can be mixed with the above composition itself or a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier, excipient, diluent, etc. to form powders, granules, tablets, capsules, troches, syrups, etc. . As an injection, an appropriate buffer, an isotonic agent or the like added and dissolved in sterilized distilled water may be used.

  Since the composition of the present invention is extremely safe, its dose can be set in a very wide range, and further varies depending on the administration method and purpose of use, but usually 0.5 to 5 g at a time, 1 to 1 as a daily dose. 20g, preferably 5-10g. In the case of preparing these solutions, a single dose of 0.5 to 10 wt% solution may be 10 to 1000 ml, and preferably 1 to 4 wt% solution may be 100 to 400 ml. The composition of the present invention can be expected to further enhance the effect when used in combination with iron, folic acid, vitamin B12 and the like.

[Example 1]
(1) Production and administration of old mice
ICR male mice were bred up to 20 months of age under free drinking and MF diet (oriental yeast) and grouped according to body weight. The test diet was administered for 8 months from the age of 20 months to 28 months. In the administration, as shown in Table 1, AIN-93M purified feed (casein content 14%) was used as the basic feed, and feed corresponding to 2% of the 14% casein contained in the amino acid composition was given. During the period, feed was ad libitum. In the administration group, there were two groups: an amino acid mixture 1 administration group in which 16 types of amino acids were mixed and an amino acid mixture 2 administration group mainly composed of essential amino acids (Table 2). AIN-93M was used as the control diet, and two groups were provided: a 5-week-old mouse of the same strain (9 months old) given during the same period (8 months) and a 2-week group (1.5 months old). .

(2) Comprehensive analysis of gene expression level in spleen After completion of administration, the spleen was removed and the gene expression level was analyzed.

  The analysis was performed on 4 individuals who had no special organ abnormalities at the time of dissection of each group. The excised spleen was soaked in 10 volumes of RNAlater (Ambion) reagent, incubated overnight at 4 ° C., removed, and stored at −80 ° C. until RNA was extracted. For extraction of total RNA from the spleen, an RNeasy kit (Qiagen) was used and the attached procedure was followed. A sample for DNA microarray analysis was prepared from a sample in which the same amount of total RNA of each mouse was mixed. The prepared sample was subjected to analysis using GeneChip, MG74Av2 array (Affymetrix). The acquired signal data was digitized and standardized by MAS 5.0, and each group was compared and examined.

When each group is analyzed with reference to young mice (9 months old), a change that increases by 1.5 times or more in the signal log ratio indicating the expression level in comparison with old mice not administered with the amino acid composition, or 0.6 The number of genes that showed a change that decreased to less than double was 666. Of these 666 genes, 229 of 34% with 1 amino acid mixture administration, and 477 of 72% with 2 amino acid mixture administration centered on essential amino acids, have the same expression level as young. These results suggest that the anti-aging effect of amino acid intake. Furthermore, the genes in which these changes were observed contained many genes related to erythrocytes, and the expression level of most of them decreased with aging. In a 28-month-old aged mouse fed with the same diet as in Example 1 above with reference to 1.5 months of age, the signal log ratio indicating the amount of expression increased 1.5 times or more, or decreased to 0.6 times or less Table 3 shows erythrocyte-related genes in which changes were observed.

(2-1) Expression level of erythrocyte-related gene In Table 3, the genes whose decrease was recognized are spectrin, ankyrin, and enzyme groups involved in iron uptake and heme synthesis, which are the main glycoproteins forming the erythrocyte cytoskeleton. And enzymes involved in oxygen exchange. In particular, the expression of all the genes of the eight enzymes involved in heme biosynthesis was reduced to approximately one-half that of young mice, suggesting a decrease in function in erythropoiesis.

  On the other hand, regarding the erythrocyte-related gene decreased in old mice, the expression level of the same gene group in the old mice administered with the amino acid composition is maintained at a higher level than in the non-administered group. The product 2 administration group showed almost the same expression pattern as the young mouse group (FIG. 1).

(2-2) Degree of erythrocyte differentiation Furthermore, the expression of GATA-1 and GATA-2, which are important erythrocyte transcription factors and induce differentiation from hematopoietic stem cells, was examined. The results are shown in FIG. With age, GATA-1 was halved and GATA-2 was doubled (Figure 2).

  GATA-1 and GATA-2 expression patterns are predominantly expressed in undifferentiated or early differentiated cells from hematopoietic stem cells to erythroblast burst forming cells (BFU-E). In erythroblasts from erythroblast colony-forming cells (CFU-E) in the latter half of differentiation, a GATA-1 dominant expression pattern is shown. Therefore, it was estimated that in old mice, the proportion of undifferentiated cells was large, and differentiation into erythrocytes was suppressed.

In contrast, when amino acids were ingested, the expression levels of GATA-1 and GATA-2 were restored to a pattern similar to that of younger age, and the effect of maintaining red blood cell differentiation by amino acid intake was observed. .

  Moreover, the expression level was also measured about the gene of the cell surface protein expressed with the differentiation of erythrocytes. The results are shown together in FIG. The expression level of c-kit expressed from bone marrow stem cells to CFU-E did not change in any group, but transferrin receptor (CD71) and erythropoietin receptor increased in the differentiation stage after CFU-E. The expression level of the body decreased with aging and was further suppressed by ingestion of amino acids. Therefore, from these results, it is suggested that differentiation after BFU-E is suppressed by aging in erythropoiesis, and it can be inferred that cell differentiation has recovered to the same level as younger by intake of amino acids.

(2-3) Effects of ingestion of genes and amino acid compositions whose expression changes with aging Furthermore, all genes whose changes were observed with aging were analyzed using pathway analysis software (Ingenuity). . In addition to the movement of genes related to red blood cells, pathway analysis strongly suggested a decrease in cell cycle and chromosome replication in aged mice, and a decrease in blood cell count was also expected in terms of cell proliferation. Furthermore, pro-erythroblasts differentiated from myeloid stem cells in the process of erythroid differentiation and maturation undergo 3 to 5 cell divisions thereafter, resulting in 8 to 32 erythrocytes. Therefore, it is considered that the decrease in cell cycle and chromosome replication indirectly indicates suppression of erythrocyte differentiation. In this respect as well, since recovery was observed with the intake of amino acids, it was considered that the intake of amino acids, particularly the intake of essential amino acids, was likely to be effective in suppressing the decline in hematopoietic function due to aging. In addition, the cell cycle and chromosome replication related genes determined to be decreased by aging in the spleen by the above analysis are listed in Table 4 below.

[Example 2]
Increase in hemoglobin level due to amino acid intake Blood was collected from the tail vein of each group of old mice and young mice, and the amount of hemoglobin in the peripheral blood was measured with hemoglobin B-Test Wako. Young mice were 5 weeks old and old mice were 20 months old in each group. Young mice have n = 9 and old mice have n = 15 in each group. Statistical analysis was performed using the Student-t-test, and a significant difference test for young mice was performed. The results are shown in FIG. In FIG. 3, AAM1 in parentheses of an aged mouse indicates a group scheduled to administer amino acid mixture 1, and AAM2 represents a group scheduled to administer amino acid mixture 2.

  Compared with young mice, the amount of hemoglobin was significantly decreased in old mice, suggesting a decrease in hematopoietic function.

  Thereafter, the same mouse was fed with the amino acid mixture 1 or the amino acid mixture 2 shown in Table 1 of Example 1 for 2 months under the conditions shown in Example 1, respectively. Blood was collected and hemoglobin in peripheral blood was measured in the same manner. At this time, n = 9 for young mice and n = 15 for old mice in each group. The results are shown in FIG. In FIG. 4, AAM1 in parentheses represents a group to which amino acid mixture 1 was administered, and AAM2 represents a group to which amino acid mixture 2 was administered. The statistical analysis was performed using the Student-t-test, and a significant difference test was performed on old mice given only casein.

  As a result, the recovery of the hemoglobin level was not observed in the old mice that did not take amino acids, but the peripheral blood hemoglobin level recovered to the same level as that of the young mice in the old mice that took amino acids (FIG. 4). ). This result correlates very well with changes in gene expression in the spleen, and it was shown that amino acids suppress the functional decline of erythropoietic organs due to aging.

[Example 3]
Effect of amino acid intake on maintenance of muscle assimilation
Three types of amino acid mixtures were administered for 4 months to 5-week-old and 23-month-old male ICR mice. The administered amino acid mixture is as shown in Table 5. The above-mentioned amino acid mixture 2 (AAM2), amino acid mixture 3 consisting only of essential amino acids (AAM3), and five types of amino acids Val, Leu, Ile, Arg and Gln Amino acid mixture 4 (AVM), which is a mixture of After the administration was completed, gastrocnemius muscle was collected from each mouse and weighed.

  When an amino acid mixture was given to an aged mouse, the essential amino acid mixture 3 significantly suppressed the decrease in skeletal muscle weight due to aging (FIG. 6). Furthermore, when examined in a similar manner in young mice, intake of amino acid mixture 2 and amino acid mixture 3 significantly increased the weight of skeletal muscle and promoted muscle assimilation compared to casein diet alone. It was suggested (FIG. 7).

As can be seen from the above results, although the composition of the amino acid in which the effect of the present invention is recognized is slightly different between the old mouse and the young mouse, it is considered that the essential amino acid is basically included as a necessary condition. This is presumed to reflect the mechanism of sarcopenia, which is an adverse effect of aging, and the fact that its suppression is different from promoting muscle assimilation in early life. However, by effectively utilizing amino acid mixtures, it is possible to provide foods and pharmaceuticals for effectively preventing muscle loss in the elderly, and foods for assisting athletes to strengthen muscles. Conceivable.

Comparative experiment 1 Effect of administration of amino acid composition on the amount of hemoglobin to young mice
A 5-week-old female ICR mouse was ingested with the same diet as in Example 2 for 5 months, blood was collected from the abdominal vena cava, and the amount of hemoglobin was measured by hemoglobin B-Test Wako (FIG. 5). .

  There was no significant difference in the amount of hemoglobin between the two groups, and no knowledge was found that the hematopoietic function of erythrocytes of aged mice was increased. For this reason, the effect of the administration of amino acids on aged mice is mainly caused by complementing or recovering the decrease in hematopoietic function caused by aging by the physiological action of each amino acid, and as a result, the amount of blood hemoglobin is reduced. It is thought that it will return to the youth level.

Comparative experiment 2 Effect of amino acid administration on young mice
Three-amino acid mixtures were administered for 4 months to 5-week-old male ICR mice. The administered amino acid mixture is as shown in Table 5 as in Example 3. The amino acid mixture 2 (AAM2), amino acid mixture 3 (AAM3) consisting only of essential amino acids, Val, Leu, Ile, Arg, Gln It is amino acid mixture 4 (AVM) which is a mixture of five kinds of amino acids.

  After administration of the amino acid, blood was collected from the abdominal vena cava and the amount of hemoglobin was measured by hemoglobin B-Test Wako. Moreover, the hematocrit value of the same sample was also measured. Furthermore, the spleen was collected and the gene expression was comprehensively analyzed by the DNA microarray method. The excised spleen was soaked in 10 volumes of RNAlater (Ambion) reagent, incubated overnight at 4 ° C., removed, and stored at −80 ° C. until RNA was extracted.

  For extraction of total RNA from the spleen, an RNeasy kit (Qiagen) was used and the attached procedure was followed. A sample for DNA microarray analysis was prepared from a sample in which the same amount of total RNA of each mouse was mixed. At this time, a sample was prepared according to a technical manual recommended by Affymetrix. The prepared sample was subjected to analysis using Gene Chip, MOE 430A array (Affymetrix). The acquired signal data was digitized and standardized by MAS 5.0, and each group was compared and examined.

  Compared with the control group to which no amino acid was administered, no significant increase was observed in both items of hemoglobin amount and hematocrit value in each group to which amino acid was administered. Therefore, it is considered that the effect of ingesting an amino acid mixture in an old animal is mainly to recover a decrease in hematopoietic function accompanying aging (FIGS. 8 and 9).

  In addition, movements of erythrocyte-related genes that were observed to change in old mice were extracted from DNA microarray analysis data (Table 6). Amino acid mixture 2 (AAM2) and amino acid mixture 3 (AAM3) containing essential amino acids were found to increase in 13 and 15 of 24 related genes, respectively. In particular, it seems to have a strong influence on major proteins that maintain heme synthesis and erythrocyte structure. On the other hand, the amino acid mixture 4 (AVM) containing only a part of the essential amino acids showed an increase in only 3 out of 24 genes. That is, it was suggested that the expression of genes related to erythrocytes is affected by the intake of amino acids, particularly essential amino acids, even in young mice, even though the increase in hemoglobin does not occur.

  This suggests that there is a difference in the types of cells or genes affected by gene expression in the spleen, depending on the composition of the ingested amino acids. This difference is presumed to be effective when the erythropoietic function is reduced by aging, complementing it. On the contrary, it can be said that an amino acid composition that has no specific effect on changes in gene expression that causes a decrease in physical function due to aging has a low probability of suppressing a decrease in function due to aging.

In this sense, it can be said that the essential amino acid mixture effectively suppresses the decrease in erythropoietic function due to aging. Furthermore, it is presumed that the same mechanism is effective for anemia and pathology in young people.

  The present invention provides a preventive agent for senile anemia and a therapeutic agent for senile anemia, and can be used in the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry or the food manufacturing industry.

  All publications, patents and patent applications cited herein are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

Claims (4)

  An amino acid composition consisting of Arg, Ile, Glu, Trp, Thr, Val, His, Phe, Pro, Met, Lys and Leu, the amino acid composition is wt%, Arg is 10-20%, Ile is 5 -20%, Glu 10-25%, Trp 1-10%, Thr 5-15%, Val 5-15%, His 1-8%, Phe 1-10%, Pro 1- An anti-senile anemia agent or a therapeutic agent for senile anemia comprising an amino acid composition containing 10%, Met 0.5-5%, Lys 1-10% and Leu 10-20%.   Amino acid composition by weight, Arg 16.0%, Ile 11.5%, Glu 17%, Trp 3.8%, Thr 9.4%, Val 9.5%, His 3.8%, Phe 3.8%, Pro 5.0 %, Met is 2.5%, Lys is 3.8%, and Leu is 14%. The senile anemia prevention agent or senile anemia treatment agent according to claim 1.   An amino acid composition comprising Asp, Ala, Arg, Ile, Gly, Glu, Ser, Tyr, Trp, Thr, Val, His, Phe, Pro, Met, Lys, and Leu, and the amino acid composition in weight%, Asp 0.1-5%, Ala 1-10%, Arg 1-10%, Ile 1-10%, Gly 5-15%, Glu 1-10%, Ser 1-5%, Tyr 3-15%, Trp 1-10%, Thr 1-12%, Val 1-10%, His 1-8%, Phe 1-10%, Pro 10-20%, Met An anti-senile anemia or therapeutic agent for senile anemia comprising an amino acid composition in the range of 0.1-5%, Lys of 8-18%, and Leu of 1-10%.   Amino acid composition by weight%, Asp 0.2%, Ala 4.3%, Arg 4.9%, Ile 4.7%, Gly 11.4%, Glu 3.7%, Ser 2.1%, Tyr 8.6%, Trp 3.6 The senile property according to claim 3, wherein%, Thr is 6.8%, Val is 5.5%, His is 3.2%, Phe is 5.0%, Pro is 16.5%, Met is 0.6%, Lys is 12.5%, and Leu is 6.4% Antianemic agent or senile anemia treatment agent.

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