By comparison of young and old connective tissue cells, the researchers observed that a disturbed ferritin H transport to the lysosomes of the cells is responsible for the accumulation of the protein molecule ferritin in aged cells.

Lysosomes are waste disposal systems, in which the degradation of damaged or altered protein proteins occurs. The reason is, that in old cells certain transport proteins are no longer produced in sufficient quantities. In addition, the researchers were able to observe that, compared to young cells, the number of proteins significantly decreased which play a significant role in the packaging of ferritin in so-called autophagosomes. The result are accumulations of protein waste in the cells, causing degenerative diseases, e.g. Alzheimer's disease.

Original Release:
Christiane Ott, Jeannette König, Annika Höhn, Tobias Jung & Tilman Grune (2016): Reduced autophagy leads to an impaired ferritin turnover in Senescent fibroblasts. Free Radical Biology and Medicine, 101: 325-333.

Source and further information:
http://www.dife.de/presse/pressemitteilungen/?id=1380&lang=en