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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAnti-aging formula slated to begin human trials
Things like Botox, hand creams, and hair dye exist to prolong the appearance of youth - but what if it could actually be achieved at the cellular level? A collaboration of researchers from the United States and Australia might have done just that. A regular metabolic compound that has been administered to mice has been shown to not just boost muscle function, but actually reverse the affects of aging. The research was led by David Sinclair of the University of New South Wales and the results have been published in the journal Cell.
A normal part of human aging involves senescence, which is a general wearing out of the body over time. Muscles begin to lose tone and become inflamed over time, and they also can develop insulin resistance. Without being able to use insulin, the cells arent able to uptake the glucose needed for activity. These problems contribute to why many elderly people have trouble getting around and athletes arent able to sustain certain levels of activity as they age.
A regular metabolic coenzyme known as nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) was administered to mice in hopes that it would slow the aging of skeletal muscle. The researchers were shocked to find that it didnt slow aging; it dramatically reversed it. In under a week, the mice who had previously been suffering from a variety of age-related impairments experienced an increase in muscle tone, as if they had been exercising and following a healthy diet. In some regards, the compound acted like the proverbial fountain of youth.
The secret to reversing aging, as it turns out, is hidden in the mitochondria. In humans and most other species, mitochondrial DNA is passed down only by the mother. These genes are responsible for becoming the cellular powerhouse and generating ATP, which cells use for energy. The team discovered that, over time, genes from the mitochondrial genome stop interacting with genes from the nuclear genome. Administering NAD+ reverses this trend and encourages communication.
NAD+ is involved in redox reactions, which regulate electron transfer in metabolic processes. As the mice grew older and less active, their levels of NAD+ had basically been cut in half. By replenishing this critical compound in the mice, their muscles had been rejuvenated. The natural process that deteriorates skeletal muscle is the same one that affects the heart.
Human trials of NAD+ treatments will begin in 2014. If the results are anything like what was experienced by the mice, it will be the equivalent of a 60 year old having the fitness of a 20 year old. However, the treatments will not be cheap. In order to gather enough patients to do the study properly, millions of dollars will need to be raised. Though there is no telling how long it will be before this treatment hits the market, Dr. Sinclair has established a company to expedite the process if and when it is granted approval.
- See more at: http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/anti-aging-formula-slated-begin-human-trials#sthash.XEnvUDBF.dpuf
LiberalArkie
(15,728 posts)RC
(25,592 posts)We are expendable anyway, right?
Helen Borg
(3,963 posts)...
Phlem
(6,323 posts)That'd be a nice change for a while.
-p
JI7
(89,271 posts)and end up look like stretched up freaks ?
randome
(34,845 posts)But back here in the real world, things will likely be different. Not necessarily optimal but different.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]"If you're bored then you're boring." -Harvey Danger[/center][/font][hr]
sorefeet
(1,241 posts)Dick Cheney. The rich and evil will be first in line.
mountain grammy
(26,655 posts)Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)I think it's great.
I hope it works.
Lucky Luciano
(11,260 posts)Every province of every country...to the remotest and most populous areas!
Zorra
(27,670 posts)I'll try most anything once.
Curmudgeoness
(18,219 posts)but I think I would be willing to invest in this as well. Hmmmm, maybe that will put me at the top of the list.
Zorra
(27,670 posts)can give me the fitness of a twenty year old, I'll be trying out for the WNBA in 2017.
Yeah, if this is real, it would be a 100% guaranteed stellar cannot lose investment.
winter is coming
(11,785 posts)the aches and pains of being elderly? Yes, please.
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)That's where I am. I've no desire at all to continue on for another forty-seven years, but if I could manage to continue on for my appointed ten or fifteen additional years with a shoulder that never hurts, or a back that never pains me in the morning, I'd be all over it.
HuskyOffset
(890 posts)Ruthless sociopath rich fucks living longer and thus having more time to fuck stuff up.
Bernardo de La Paz
(49,044 posts)Let's give the cynicism a rest. Let's let the trials and scientific research go forward.
Somebody outside of the 1% will figure out how to insert a gene into e. coli that will produce this compound even more readily than the bacteria in our guts produce biotin and Vitamin K. It will become as cheap as yogurt.
truebluegreen
(9,033 posts)RagAss
(13,832 posts)Vattel
(9,289 posts)randome
(34,845 posts)[hr][font color="blue"][center]You have to play the game to find out why you're playing the game. -Existenz[/center][/font][hr]
kelliekat44
(7,759 posts)skepticscott
(13,029 posts)If people are living to an average age of 100-120? And how are people going to be supported at those ages? Will people have to work until they're 90?
SheilaT
(23,156 posts)like if people continue to reproduce as usual, but live a whole lot longer. It seems as though there are already too many people. Personally, I don't want to be around to experience the joys of 12 or 20 or 50 billion people.
skepticscott
(13,029 posts)Global warming and water shortages may end up limiting growth pretty effectively...though not, I fear, pleasantly.
SheilaT
(23,156 posts)It is not going to be pleasant. Such an understatement.
I suppose a lot of this has to do with one's view's on whether or not there's an afterlife. If you believe that this is absolutely the only life there is, and once it ends that's it, then of course you'll want to live as long as possible. And perhaps to hell with the consequences of people suddenly living much longer than we used to.
TransitJohn
(6,932 posts)We live in a science fiction dystopia.
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)MADem
(135,425 posts)Youth is wasted on the young, so they say....!