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Techniques To Reverse Aging In Mice Found

A method to reverse aging has been sought for centuries. It was once thought to be as plausible as a Northwest Passage, however researchers have found a way to do it. Staying young forever is still impossible for humans, as the breakthrough has only worked for mice.

Procedure found to reverse mice ages

Laboratory mice can have their age reversed with gene therapy. ABC reports that this was found at the Harvard Medical School. The research team was headed by Dr. Ronald A. DePinho of Harvard Medical School and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The study was then published. The journal Nature was where they were published at. Scientists reversed the faster aging affect for making this take place. Of course, that meant they had to genetically engineer mice that aged faster. For instance, mice whose fur had turned gray grew darker fur. In Alzheimer's, the brain shrinks just as it did in some of these rats. Their brain tissue would grow back though. Subjects that had lost some organ function were able to have it restored. Infertility was reversed. It just showed that getting older might be able to be stopped. The effects of aging might be stopped anyway.

The process working

The reason the process worked was because of the specific thing done. Gene therapy is that thing. You will find caps on pairs of chromosomes called telomeres with the DNA. Telomeres produce a protective compound called telomerase, which is exactly 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 mice in the lab had the telomere breakdown reversed. Gene therapy was used to do this. Reversing getting older wasn’t the purpose of the study. Slowing aging was what was being worked on.

Exactly what the issue is

Gene therapy isn’t even close to being something that humans can use. There could be an advantage for humans. Telomere growth may be stimulated by drug regimens. Also, ought to this become accessible for humans, only the procedure of getting older, or the breakdown of the body, can be affected. There will not be any method to have eternal life. Telomerase therapies will not be for that.

Citations

ABC News

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

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