Reverse aging with a simple injection

The scientists Harvard University In the United States, they have reached a major milestone in learning to reverse aging after a series of experiments with mice.

After a work that took 13 years of development and was published this week, an injection was able to double the life left in some old mice. Cell magazine.

A study led by researchers from a start-up company Refreshing lifeOut of Harvard’s Wise Institute, they injected three of the four Yamanaka factors — OCT4, SOX2 and KLF4 — into mice for 124 weeks, about 77 human years.

Australian Professor of Genetics David Sinclair And his team realized that not only could they manipulate rodents to accelerate aging, but they could also reverse the effects of such a process. Restores some biological symptoms Adolescence in animals.

Aging is often thought to be the result of genetic changes that cause our bodies to deteriorate and die. Sinclair believes not so.

study Proves for the first time Degradation of DNA in an organized and regulated manner, known as epigenetics, can cause aging in an organism independently of changes in the genetic code. Dr. Sinclair had been arguing for years that aging resulted from the loss of important instructions that cells need to continue functioning: he defined it as: “Aging Information Theory”.

To test your hypothesis, the effects of aging on the epigenome were replicated by injecting breaks into the DNA of young mice. Once ‘aged’ in this way, it was observed that the animals began to show within a few weeks Signs of aging: Low body weight despite gray coat, unchanging diet, reduced activity and increased weakness.

The researchers gave mice gene therapy that reversed epigenetic changes caused by DNA breaks. as a consequence, Aged and blind mice were able to regain their sight And they developed younger, smarter brains.

Sinclair summed it up this way: “It How to restart the computer It doesn’t work well”. The expert confirmed that his work supports the hypothesis Mammary cells maintain a kind of backup epigenetic ‘software’ that, when accessed, allows an aging and epigenetically polarized cell Restore to a healthy and youthful state.

Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School, Honorary Collector for his scientific advances and one 100 Most Important People in the World For Time magazine in 2020, David Sinclair developed his career in search of the same goal: to achieve the secret of eternal youth, or at least the formula to delay aging as much as possible.