Pyrroloquinoline quinone and imidazopyrroloquinoline intake diminish mortality risk during midlife and improve muscular dysfunctions with age in mice.

Pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ) and its derivative imidazopyrroloquinoline (IPQ) are nutritionally important vitamin-like compounds that exert various physiological effects, including cell-growth promotion, neuroprotection, and mitochondriogenesis stimulation. This study investigated the potential of PQQ and IPQ as geroprotectors that promote healthy longevity, addressing the general lack of lifespan aging intervention experiments in mammals. We conducted lifelong and midlife experiments with 0.02% (w/w) PQQ and 0.02% (w/w) IPQ supplementation in the senescence-accelerated mouse P8 strain that is characterized by a short lifespan. In lifelong experiments, the survival days at the 75th percentile was prolonged by 73% and 36% in the PQQ and IPQ groups, respectively, compared with that in the control. In addition, significant delays in the appearance of aging and age-related muscular dysfunction were observed. Intake of PQQ and IPQ diets from midlife improved muscular function that had declined with age. IPQ intake reduced lipid accumulation in adipose tissue and the liver. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate that PQQ and IPQ supplementation, whether initiated in the early or middle age, is effective in ameliorating age-related alterations, such as muscular function, and diminishes mortality risk during midlife in mice.