Discover the longevity art

The method of eliminating weak old cells in mice shows that people can hope for a future without disease and longevity.

With the elimination of aging cells several times in the lives of experimental mice, the researchers were able to help these organisms escape a series of aging diseases, from cataracts, Aging skin to muscle atrophy. Darren Baker of the Mayo Clinic Medical University (Minnesota, USA) said the mice were treated from the early stages of life, before their bodies produced aging cells. When an old cell, they remove it, and the results are very impressive.

Degeneration process of cells

After important contributions to the body, the cells begin to age and show signs of wear and tear, the process can lead to cancer. For that reason, the body decides to lock them. When mammalian cells enter this stage, they can develop in either direction, either completely destroyed or wrestled in a degenerative state. For some reason, cells that choose to survive weakly start spitting out strange proteins. These chemical signals will have an abnormal effect on surrounding healthy cells, and experts suggest that this is a group of chemicals that can lead to age-related diseases.

The number of degenerated cells increases with the age of the tissue. In the worst case scenario, they can account for up to 15% of the cells inside mammalian tissues. At such rates, old cells are weak enough to cause serious consequences. According to Baker, they can activate countless genes that are not conducive to the body and negatively affect the general function of tissue.

Removal method

In the new study, the American team affected the laboratory mice to age rapidly. They show enough symptoms of old age such as cataracts, muscle weakness and the body no longer has enough fat at 10 months of age, the time when mice will die of heart attack.

When they were 3 weeks old, the researchers treated them with a specific drug, causing the cells to degenerate in the body in mass suicide. This therapy is repeated every 3 days. Compared to mice developed naturally, the interventional mice had stronger muscles, less cataracts and less wrinkled skin (because the fat layer was evenly distributed under the skin).

Experts also let some mice grow naturally and do not interfere until they are 5 months old. At this time, they showed signs of aging. The research team did not overcome what happened, but after continuous treatment, muscle damage and fat cells gradually decreased and ended. These mice still carry the signs of old age and do not live longer, but they basically go through a healthy period of age and do not suffer from disease.

Experts are repeating the study on normal mice, unaffected by gene therapy, making them grow faster than the first-generation mice. However, these experiments take a long time to produce results because the average mice live for about 3 years to die. However, the information gathered from previous studies is very useful for the process of finding appropriate therapies for humans in the near future. For example, experts may consider the ability to destroy degenerated cells by gene therapy, or use vaccines to train immune systems to attack harmful cells. And in the future, people will eventually find ways to prolong life thanks to studies like this.