As we age, not only does our appearance and health change, but each cell in the body also has a molecular clock that records the passage of time. Now, scientists have managed to reverse the aging process in mice by partially restoring their cells to more youthful states.
Specifically, the team of the scientist Spanish Juan Carlos Izpisúa has shown that it can safely and effectively delay this process in middle-aged and elderly mice. The results are published in the journal Nature Aging.
“ New tool to restore tissue health”
“In addition to addressing age-related diseases, this approach can provide the biomedical community with a new tool to restore the health of tissues and the organism, improving the function and recovery capacity of cells in different disease situations, such as neurodegenerative diseases”, summarizes the scientist.
Izpisúa is a researcher at the Gene Expression Laboratory of the Salk Institute of La Jolla (California, USA), who has carried out this work in collaboration with Genentech, of the Roche group.
“We are delighted to be able to use this approach throughout life to delay aging in normal animals“, affirms Izpisúa. “The technique is safe and effective in mice”, he adds.
Yamanaka factors
The results that are now known have years of laboratory behind them. Izpisúa and his team discovered in their day that, by altering the dose, frequency and duration of molecules called Yamanaka factors, they could program cells to increase their resilience and functionality “in vitro”.
This is cellular reprogramming, a process in which, through the activity of four proteins – Yamanaka factors – any adult cell is transformed into an induced pluripotent stem cell, capable of to divide indefinitely and then become any type of cell. The discovery of this process by the Japanese Shinya Yamanaka earned him a Nobel Prize.
After the “in vitro” findings, the team at 1200 reported its advances in animals for the first time: then we observed, reminds Efe Izpisúa, that this treatment counteracted the signs of aging and increased life expectancy in mice with a disease of premature aging .
Accelerate muscle regeneration
More recently, in 2021, they discovered that, even in young mice, these factors can accelerate muscle regeneration ; “Following these observations, scientists have used our methodology to improve the function of other tissues, such as the heart, brain or optic nerve,” he adds.
The study that is now being published had a dual purpose: to check whether the beneficial effects previously observed in mice with various diseases also occurred in mice without pathologies and whether it passed to different stages of life.
Therefore, a group of mice received regular doses of Yamanaka factors from the 15 to 22 months, which is approximately equivalent to 50-70 years in humans.
Another group was treated from 12 until 22 months (35-70 years in humans ) and a third only for one month at the age of 25 m is (about 80 years in humans).
“We did not observe any negative effects on the health, behavior or body weight of these animals“ , Pradeep Reddy, of Salk, points out in a statement.
Scientists do not find cancer in mice
Compared to control animals, there were no blood cell abnormalities or neurological changes in those receiving Yamanaka factors; the team found no cancers–an increased risk is associated with aging–in either group.
When the researchers looked at the normal signs of aging, they found that, in in many respects, they resembled younger mice: in kidneys and skin, the epigenetics of the treated animals more closely resembled the epigenetic patterns observed in the younger ones.
Epigenetic markers
Epigenetic markers, influenced by the environment and closely linked to lifestyle, are the chemical marks that control our genetics and change the way genes are expressed.
Scientists also found that, when injured, skin cells from treated mice had a greater ability to proliferate and were less prone to permanent scarring – older mice showed less proliferation and more scarring.
This youth It was found in animals treated with Yamanaka factors for seven or ten months, but not in those treated for a single month. Furthermore, when treated animals were analyzed mid-procedure, the effects, although present, were still not as pronounced.
On the other hand, when it was done with older animals, one month of treatment was enough to show all the beneficial effects.
Active reversal of aging
This suggests that treatment is not limited to stopping aging, but is actively reversing it. However, the authors warn, more research is needed to differentiate the two.
“We want to restore the ability to recover and the function of old cells to make them more resistant to stress, injury and disease. This study shows that at least in mice there is a way to achieve this”, says Reddy.
“The transfer to the clinic could mean a change in current medicine, helping to reverse and prevent some diseases, injuries and dysfunctions that our body accumulates throughout life”, concludes Izpisúa.
Read more:
The US accuses Pyongyang of preparing a new intercontinental missile system
Shooting outside a school in Florida leaves two students injured while they were in class; there are three detainees
With the help of cryptocurrencies, Mexican cartels launder $25,000 million dollars per year