Figure 3

The protective effect of calorie restriction on stroke diminishes with age. In a recent work by our group [47], mice from different age groups were subjected to intermittent fasting for the same time period before suffering ischemic stroke. The adaptive cellular responses, in the form of neurotrophic factors, protein chaperones, anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory environments, were strongly favoured in young mice. However, aged animals didn't show such a beneficial response. As a result, IF young mice were protected from stroke but the extent of the protection was weak or null in aged mice. These results show that the protective effects of IF against stroke are age-dependent.