Effect of Aging on Rat Tissue Peptidase Activities

The process of aging is known to involve alterations in the activity of peptidases and proteases. However, the precise changes in the activity of many peptidases in aged tissues have not yet been fully characterized, and both decreases and increases in both peptidase activity and peptide levels have been reported to occur during the aging process. In the present study, we measured the activity of several peptidases in selected tissues (brain cortex, brain stem, liver, kidney, heart, and lung) of the young adult (3 months old) and aged (18 months old and 22 months old) rat. The activities of prolyl endopeptidase, pyroglutamyl peptidase I, puromycin sensitive aminopeptidase, and aminopeptidase N were assayed using β-naphthylamine aminoacidic derivatives as substrates. The activity of the soluble fractions of prolyl endopeptidase was found to be reduced in the lungs of aged animals, while reduced activity of soluble pyroglutamyl peptidase I and also aminopeptidase N was measured in the aged kidney and heart, respectively. In contrast, increased activity of particulate prolyl endopeptidase was measured in the brain stem of older animals. Since most of these changes can be correlated with known alterations in the levels of peptides controlled by each enzyme, the results of the present study indicate that the studied peptidases may play an important role in regulating tissue peptide levels during aging.