Harvard scientists reverse aging in mice

**Times Roman** · 11-29-2010, 12:46 PM

Thought you might be interested in this....

Harvard Medical School researchers believe they may have found a key that could unlock the long-sought fountain of youth. The team's work, in the words of Guardian science reporter Ian Sample, "turned weak and feeble old mice into healthy animals by regenerating their aged bodies."

So how did they do it? The group attempted to stunt "telomere shortening," something that scientists believe is key to the aging process. Basically, the telomere -- a tiny cap on a cell's DNA -- becomes shorter and shorter each time it divides. The researchers injected severely aged mice on the verge of death with an enzyme, telomerase, that slows telomere shortening. The mice injected with telomerase showed a surprising return to youthful form.

"These were severely aged animals, but after a month of treatment they showed a substantial restoration, including the growth of new neurons in their brains," group leader Ronald DePinho told the Guardian.

The research was published in the journal Nature. DePinho said: "What we saw in these animals was not a slowing down or stabilization of the aging process. We saw a dramatic reversal — and that was unexpected."

Humans shouldn't get their hopes up just yet. According to DePinho, telomerase production in the human body is switched off in adults by Mother Nature as part of the human body's defense mechanism against cancer. Just as the enzyme works to breathe life back into good cells, it does the same with bad cells. In short, enhanced doses of telomerase in humans would dramatically increase the risk of cancer spreading rapidly throughout the human body.

What's more, the mice used in the study were genetically modified to lack telomerase -- and in all likelihood, that manipulated deficiency enhanced the impact of the enzyme well beyond what unmodified mice would have experienced.

(Photo: AP/Robert F. Bukaty)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_theloo...-aging-in-mice