The elixir of youth and the gene for longevity: how modern science fights aging - ForumDaily
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The elixir of youth and the longevity gene: how modern science fights aging

Dreams of immortality are as old as humanity itself. Since the beginning of time, people have been looking for ways to prolong the life of themselves and their loved ones, calling for help from the gods, sages, magicians and healers.

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Ancient philosophers debated the causes of aging, and medieval alchemists searched for the philosopher's stone in the hope of creating an elixir of life. But only the scientific revolution of the New Age was able to transfer the issue to a practical plane - and soon began to bear real fruit, writes Air force.

Since the beginning of the 2000th century, average life expectancy has already more than doubled and continues to grow. Most scientists agree that children born after 100 have every chance of living XNUMX years or even more - after all, medicine does not stand still, offering new ways to combat old age.

How exactly do scientists try to extend our century? In what areas are experiments being conducted and what successes have been achieved on the path to eternal youth?

Old age pills

Scientists know a lot of biologically active substances that can effectively mobilize the body - cause a surge of physical strength or improve brain function. This is exactly how any doping works.

The problem is that all such drugs “treat one thing, cripple another” - that is, they have inevitable side effects, and if taken for a long time, they do more harm than good.

But what if you choose a combination of several drugs so that together they prolong the patient’s life while simultaneously neutralizing each other’s side effects?

This is exactly what dozens of scientists around the world are trying to do. And although no one has yet succeeded in creating a universal “pill for old age,” the results of some experiments are impressive.

The most amazing effect was described in the journal Nature just a couple of months ago: in nine volunteers in California who took growth hormone and two diabetes drugs for a year, the aging process did not just stop, but reversed.

During the year of the experiment, the biological age of its participants, determined by special DNA markers, decreased on average by 2,5 years.

On the subject: 'The biological clock has begun to reverse': scientists for the first time managed to rejuvenate people at the DNA level

A group of biologists from Britain and Germany recently conducted a very similar experiment. The experimental subjects (to begin with, the tests were carried out on Drosophila flies) were given a medicinal cocktail of three biologically active substances - the immunosuppressant rapamycin, insulin-like growth factor and lithium preparations.

By selecting their optimal ratio, scientists managed to neutralize the side effects of all three drugs - and increase the life expectancy of the experimental subjects by almost one and a half times.

In parallel, work is underway on another method of medicinal rejuvenation - by cleansing the body of old cells.

All our cells age - and at some point they stop dividing. Usually the immune system is responsible for recycling (that is, killing) such aged cells, but with age this process becomes less effective, and they begin to accumulate in tissues, releasing toxic substances that cause inflammation, and sometimes even mutate, causing cancer.

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A group of American scientists is working on the creation of a new class of medications - senolytics, capable of specifically destroying old cells. The first tests were successfully carried out on 14 volunteers who were simultaneously given a drug for leukemia and a natural dietary supplement, quercetin.

Now the combination of these two drugs is undergoing more extensive clinical trials, but other options for senolytics have already been developed.

Racing with nature

It is generally accepted that the predisposition to a long life is written at the DNA level - which means it can be inherited from ancestors. However, recent studies prove that the role of genes in this process is greatly exaggerated, and the heredity factor in centenarians does not exceed 10%.

However, we are well aware of the changes that occur in DNA with age, and many scientists are trying to slow down (or even completely stop) this process precisely at the genetic level.

For example, as we age, the ends of chromosomes shorten—the so-called telomeres, consisting of identical, repeatedly repeated DNA fragments. With each cell division, the chromosomes are doubled, but this process does not reach the very end - and the “tails” become shorter and shorter.

At some point - after about 40-60 cycles - this begins to threaten the basic DNA sequence, and then the cell starts the process of self-destruction.

To begin with, scientists have found that when stem cells divide, telomeres do not shorten, but maintain their length. Moreover, when dividing in the same way, the “tails” can even be doubled - naturally, without gene editing.

Spanish biologists went further. Having grown “super-long” mouse embryonic stem cells in vitro in this way, they transplanted them into other embryos. The cubs born as a result of this experiment lived on average a quarter longer than their relatives - they aged more slowly, gained less weight and were less likely to get cancer.

But what if you make changes to the DNA sequence itself? Scientists already know several genes that prevent the development of age-related diseases - and therefore prolong life.

On the subject: The class of immortal masters: how science and business try to conquer aging

Harvard biologists introduced three of these genes into mice using neutralized viruses. It turned out that two of them (FGF21 and TGFβ1) are enough to protect animals from kidney and heart failure, as well as prevent the development of obesity and diabetes.

However, in order to slow down aging at the cellular level, it is not necessary to edit genes.

For example, a team of scientists from Missouri believes that the key to eternal youth is the protein eNAMPT, which regulates energy production in mammalian cells. The concentration of this enzyme in the blood decreases as the body ages, and the production of cellular fuel becomes less efficient and more expensive.

Biologists injected elderly mice with eNAMPT, borrowed from the blood of young animals. As a result, the health of the experimental animals improved significantly - they became noticeably more active and lived 16% longer than the control group.

The mice in the video below are of the same respectable age, but one of them was given injections of the “youth enzyme”, and the other was injected with regular saline.

Another way to combat old age is by stimulating the growth of blood vessels.

One of the main reasons for the senile breakdown is that blood vessels gradually lose their ability to effectively supply muscle cells with oxygen and nutrients. For the same reason, along with muscle degeneration, bone fragility also rises, osteoporosis develops.

However, Australian scientists have found that injections of the NMN enzyme stimulate the growth of blood vessels and successfully restore muscle and bone tissue - at least in elderly mice, whose endurance was restored by 80%.

Human trials should begin shortly.

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