Mice can remain fabulous as researchers uncover the way to reverse aging

People have been wondering since the dawn of time the way to reverse aging. Once thought impossible, but a recent discovery may have found the answer. It only works on mice so far, so individuals should not get their hopes up.

Procedure found to reverse mice ages

It was found at the Harvard Medical School that gene therapy, accounts ABC, could be used to reverse the age of laboratory mice. Dr. Ronald A. DePinho of Harvard Medical School and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute headed the research team. Nature was the journal the findings were published in. Scientists first figured out how to engineer mice that aged faster in order to reverse the aging affect. For instance, mice whose fur had turned gray grew darker fur. Brain tissue was regenerated for house mice who had their brains shrunk, kind of like Alzheimer’s disease. Some of the mice had failed organ functions. This was restored quickly though. Some mice were infertile. That was reversed though. The implication is that there may be a way to stop getting older, or at least stop or diminish the effects of getting older.

What taken place to make it operate

The reason the procedure worked was due to the specific thing done. Gene therapy is that thing. DNA has pairs of chromosomes, which have caps on them called telomeres. Telomeres produce a protective compound called telomerase, which is what the study focused on. There is less production of telomerase when organisms age. The DNA ends up getting damaged as the telomeres breaks down. The laboratory mice were given gene therapy to reverse telomere breakdown. The study was not out to reverse the getting older procedure totally, it was simply to see if the procedure could be slowed.

The issue

Gene therapy is not even close to being something that humans can use. It is likely that any human benefit will be from drug regimens that stimulate telomere growth. Also, ought to this become accessible for humans, only the process of getting older, or the breakdown of the body, could be affected. There will not be any way to have eternal life. Telomerase therapies won't be for that.

Citations

ABC News

abcnews.go.com/Health/Alzheimers/aging-reversed-mice/story?id=12269125&page=1