Researchers haven't just stopped the clock; they've reversed it in animal experiments that may give hope to humans chasing the fountain of youth. Mice exhibiting age-related degeneration such as brain disease, loss of smell, and fertility decline have been returned to youthful states of health by genetic manipulation, reports the Wall Street Journal. "These mice were equivalent to 80-year-old humans and were about to pass away," says Ronald DePinho, co-author of the paper and a scientist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. After the experiment, "they were the physiological equivalent of young adults." The aging mechanism in question is to do with DNA units called telomeres that stop chromosomes and genes from deteriorating. Telomeres shorten as we age, but by reactivating an enzyme called telomerase, that shortening can be forestalled, leading to a reversal of some of the effects of aging. Researchers caution that the findings are not yet directly applicable to humans.
Read original story in The Wall Street Journal | Monday, Nov. 29, 2010
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This is really interesting, but also very scary when you consider the implications of animals and people living beyond their natural lifespans. Cracked (a humor site with facts) did an article recently on how we actually need people to have normal lifespans - for example, imagine an incumbent politician or a CEO staying in power for 200 years.
ReplyDelete-Elizabeth Sweat
I'm also kind of afraid of the implications of this if it ever does become viable for humans, though I have a feeling it won't. There's some mentions of cancer and I really doubt this could completely get rid of the atrophy of muscles and such. Everything deteriorates eventually, and if this really could lead to proving that wrong I'd be amazed.
ReplyDeleteThough if this did come into fruition, I think humans could find away around the longer lifespan issue. Just throwing a few out there: harsher birth control laws and (hopefully) more motives to colonize another planet.
-Michael Lanigan