Tomatidine is a senotherapeutic compound that improves cognitive function and reduces cellular senescence in aged mice
, and telomere-associated DNA damage foci) in liver, skin, and hippocampal neurons, along with decreased neuroinflammation and microglial activation. Tomatidine also diminished brain endothelial cell senescence while enhancing tight junction protein expression, suggesting preserved blood-brain barrier integrity. Together, these findings identify tomatidine as a promising senescence-targeting compound with beneficial effects in aged mice and support its further evaluation in mechanistic and translational studies.
Authors
- João F. Passos (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8765-1890)
- Christopher M. Adams (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5795-7212)
- Cláudia Manuela Soares Cavadas
- Hélène Martini (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8789-4585)
- Dominik Saul (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0673-3710)
- Paul D. Robbins (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1068-7099)
- Gung Lee (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0223-7955)
- Karla Valdivieso (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8058-5453)
- Lucy Gee (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5682-5093)
- Rebecca A. Porritt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0973-5092)
- Lilian Sales Gomez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5309-7438)
- Scott M. Ebert (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6598-2629)
- Maria Grazia Vizioli
- Daniela G. Costa
- Ana Catarina Franco (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6730-7021)
- Nathan LeBrasseur
- D. Jurk
- Lei J Zhang
- Sundeep Khosla
- Nick Pirius
Institutions
- University of Minnesota (US)
- Mayo Clinic (US)
- University of Georgia (US)
- Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (US)
- Discovery Institute (US)
- WinnMed (US)
- Robert Bosch Hospital (DE)
- Mayo Clinic in Arizona (US)
- Mayo Clinic in Florida (US)
- University of Coimbra (PT)
Publication Details
- Journal
- EMBO Molecular Medicine
- Published
- 2026-04-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s44321-026-00400-0
- Primary Topic
- Telomeres, Telomerase, and Senescence
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Hevolution Foundation
- Glenn Foundation for Medical Research
- Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale
- Fundação Luso-Americana para o Desenvolvimento
- National Institutes of Health
- Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
- National Institute on Aging