Scientists have successfully created an anti-ageing therapy using young blood plasma that reversed aging processes in rats. By revitalizing organs and cells using this approach, rejuvenation could occur successfully.
Treatment also reduced cellular deterioration and cleared away senescent cells, effectively slowing the rats’ epigenetic age by 54% according to a preprint biology paper published recently.
1. Reactivate telomerase
Telomeres of cells provide an essential defense against cell death and programmed senescence. With each division, telomeres become gradually shorter until reaching a threshold that activates programmed cell death – otherwise known as apoptosis – which leads to cell senescence and eventually death – one of the molecular mechanisms driving ageing. Harvard researchers have recently discovered a way to reactivate telomerase, potentially leading to treatments for various diseases including cancer.
Shelterin, a protein complex composed of TERT and hTR enzymes, protects telomeres from degradation caused by enzymes as they shorten. To activate telomerase, scientists modified hTR so as to include an additional strand of complementary RNA that acts as an activating template and acts as a template for expanding telomeric ends of chromosomes. In order to make sure its effects weren’t recognized as damage and destroyed by recognition mechanisms like repair mechanisms like DNA damage recognition systems called repair mechanisms known as “Tel patches”.
Reactivating telomerase requires raising levels of the protein known as hTR, which serves as an alternate template for lengthening telomeres. Unfortunately, however, this approach has yet to become clinically feasible.
Studies have demonstrated that activating telomerase significantly extends mouse lifespans and even partially restored longevity for old mice. One team’s hopes is to test this treatment on humans as well, though this will likely prove challenging given that humans do not produce their own telomerase and raising its levels may increase cancer risks.
DePinho and her team’s experiments suggest that activating telomerase may be an effective means of slowing or even reversing aging, though further investigation will need to be performed on whether E5 treatment rejuvenates epigenetic age in rats biologically meaningfully and if other well-established markers of aging change. Furthermore, E5 must identify its mechanism of action so it can effectively reverse aging processes.
2. Rejuvenate brain cells
Researchers at Kumamoto University in Japan conducted a groundbreaking study published this month in EMBO that revealed naked mole rats possess a natural ability to eliminate senescent cells that have died or been damaged, thereby leading to age-related decline and contributing to tissue clutter. Senolysis can remove these unwanted cells, providing one more means by which scientists may extend lifespan in humans – or at least bring human lifespan closer.
Prior to this study, a team led by Harvard medical school geneticist David Sinclair and supported by venture capital firm Rejuvenate Bio administered injections to aged mice with AAV viruses expressing Yamanaka factors (after their creator). On average, these mice lived an additional 18 weeks than controls while partially recovering patterns of DNA methylation–an epigenetic mark which indicates age in cells–typical of younger animals.
Though this experiment represents an exciting development, it is too soon to determine whether its findings will transfer into human life. A previous study using young blood plasma to rejuvenate organs of aging rats also produced promising results; however, whether this approach will work on human subjects is still unknown due to biological markers of aging differing significantly between rodent and human vital organs – so something detrimental in a rodent might not have any affect whatsoever in humans and vice versa; this discrepancy has likely contributed significantly to rejuvenation efforts that failed between rodents and humans in past experiments that aimed at human benefits despite promising initial successes using rodent vital organs as sources.
Though these setbacks may have dampened some scientists’ enthusiasm about defying the aging process, some scientists remain hopeful that they can successfully reverse it. MNT recently reported on a study published in The Journal of Neuroscience that successfully reversed it in rats by using ampakine to prevent tangles and plaques that form in older animals’ brains, leading to cognitive decline. As MNT reported last month, ampakine restored brain function, memory retention, and learning ability compared with rats from older ages; research team hopes eventually testing it on humans too!
3. Reverse the aging process
Scientists continue their efforts at reversing the effects of aging, and many remain hopeful of success in extending life through various means. While some researchers have already extended the lives of mice by activating telomerase and rejuvenating brain cells, others are exploring other approaches; one interesting possibility involves replacing older cells with younger replacements; this approach may prove most fruitful when applied to humans as it could reverse some effects of aging and extend human lives by decades.
Researchers recently made the astonishing discovery that an effective treatment could halt aging in rats. Their team discovered that simply transplanting blood plasma from young pigs significantly slowed the aging of old rats by altering their epigenetic clocks and improving organ function; marking the first cross-species epigenetic transfer successful transfer.
Scientists from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School conducted this groundbreaking research study. By giving old rats pig plasma treatments, they saw significant reductions in biological age across six tissues; organ functions improved; senescent cells cleared away; this result was much greater than simply placebo effects and actually over half reduced their epigenetic ages!
Pig plasma treatments not only reversed the aging process in animals, but they also decreased glucose levels, increased insulin production, and suppressed inflammation. While not a complete turnaround was seen with regards to effectiveness wear off, according to study’s authors it marks an important step forward towards reversing human life expectancies and lengthening lifespan.
Another study has successfully managed to slow the aging process in laboratory mice by switching on genes that regulate how fast cellular repair and maintenance occur. The team hopes that eventually this research may yield an anti-ageing drug capable of protecting against various diseases.
Other researchers are employing stem cell technology to halt the aging process in rats. Their experiments use a chemical cocktail to reactivate telomerase and promote formation of new stem cells in older rat brains; these stem cells then replace damaged or senescent cells, slowing down their rate of degeneration thereby slowing aging progression.
4. Reverse the aging process in humans
Scientists have demonstrated that many factors can slow and even reverse the process of aging, including telomerase (an enzyme which keeps ends of DNA from clumping together) and free radical reduction. Reducing free radical levels helps keep cells healthier longer by damaging free radicals causing cell deterioration and eventual death. Finally, some researchers are trying to reverse aging through gene manipulation or even viruses to deliver rejuvenating Yamanaka factors directly to damaged neurons in mice brains – these rejuvenative factors make old cells behave like new cells while even growing new axons in retina.
Sinclair Lab researchers recently conducted an experiment that found four Yamanaka factors could be administered into the eyes of mice using a virus-based injection. Once delivered to retinal ganglion cells at the back of each eye, these Yamanaka factors activated when exposed to antibiotics, rejuvenating retinal ganglion cells that had become dysfunctional with age and producing new nerve support structures such as axons. Sinclair’s team is continuing their research to see if other cells in the body may also benefit from using these Yamanaka factors as rejuvenators.
In separate experiments, plasma fraction treatment of rats significantly decreased their epigenetic aging in liver and heart tissues (Fig. 2) while also improving their functionality as evidenced by biomarkers such as cardiac efficiency and reduced levels of oxidative stress (Fig. 2).
Plasma fraction has shown to reduce epigenetic aging in liver and heart tissue through increasing mitochondrial efficiency; further supported by an increase in concentrations of antioxidants to neutralize free radicals; this has been linked to an accelerated rate of cell regeneration; in turn this could halt neurodegeneration as well as cancer development, suggesting its rejuvenation effect could extend beyond liver and heart tissues to kidneys and lungs as well.
