Harvard Scientists Reverse the Ageing Process in Mice

Scientists claim to be a step closer to reversing the ageing process after rejuvenating worn out organs in elderly mice. The experimental treatment developed by researchers at Harvard Medical School turned weak and feeble old mice into healthy animals by regenerating their aged bodies.

The surprise recovery of the animals has raised hopes among scientists that it may be possible to achieve a similar feat in humans – or at least to slow down the ageing process.

An anti-ageing therapy could have a dramatic impact on public health by reducing the burden of age-related health problems, such as dementia, stroke and heart disease, and prolonging the quality of life for an increasingly aged population.

"What we saw in these animals was not a slowing down or stabilisation of the ageing process. We saw a dramatic reversal – and that was unexpected," said Ronald DePinho, who led the study, which was published in the journal Nature.

"This could lead to strategies that enhance the regenerative potential of organs as individuals age and so increase their quality of life. Whether it serves to increase longevity is a question we are not yet in a position to answer."

The ageing process is poorly understood, but scientists know it is caused by many factors. Highly reactive particles called free radicals are made naturally in the body and cause damage to cells, while smoking, ultraviolet light and other environmental factors contribute to ageing.

The Harvard group focused on a process called telomere shortening. Most cells in the body contain 23 pairs of chromosomes, which carry our DNA. At the ends of each chromosome is a protective cap called a telomere.

I'd venture to say that to practically all of us the only real thing that matters when talking about any so-called "reverse-ageing" process is not whether or not our gall bladder, most other organs, are rejuvenated, more than likely what we all want to know does it do anything to the the organ most of us want rejuvenated, (this is a family site, no snide comments tolerated :-))our skin, facial features, the skin considered an organ as well.

I say this somewhat tongue-in-cheek but the reality is what we want most in any rejuvenating process is to once again have the body of a twenty year old or whatever age it was that you yearn for most.

Our long-term financial problems primarily involve an increasing number of old, non-productive members of society relative to younger productive members.

Anything that allows people to live longer just adds to that problem.

I'd like to live a longer and healthier life as much as anybody, but if everybody goes to school till they're 25, works for 40 years and then retires at 65, living to 100, they're out of the workforce for 60% of their lifespan. The financial mechanics of this just don't work.

All true. If people want to live longer, they will *have to* retire later. The economics simply don’t work otherwise. (Of course, if people can have healthier bodies as they age, retiring at an older age would be less of a burden.)

Any treatments that may come out of this will probably be expensive at first, and thus only available to a few, minimizing their economic impact. But if the treatments obviously work, the pressure to make them available to everyone will be enormous. Eventually they will become common or even routine. That would necessitate a complete overhaul of retirement, pensions, Social Security, Medicare, etc.

The concept of an automatic retirement age would probably have to be dispensed with entirely. The remaining entities that provide defined benefit programs would almost certainly have to replace them with defined-contribution programs, particularly while there is uncertainty about how much people’s lifespans will be extended. (If actuaries can’t predict with some accuracy when people will die, it’s impossible to be determine how much funding a pension plan will need.)

Retirement would probably have to be redefined as occurring when you either (1) have acquired the resources to care for yourself indefinitely, or (2) are too sick or frail to work any more. Social Security and Medicare might even have to transform to disability-only programs, rather than providing automatic benefits to people who attain a particular age.

Still, as long as this research provides hope of treatments that reduce the suffering that many people now endure as they age, then the research *will* continue. The best we can do is try to plan for it rationally. And that will be tough. It will be particularly difficult to balance the needs of people who are already retired or are nearing retirement. They will be suffering from age-related health problems and want the life-extending treatments. However, they will want their expected retirement benefits, too. And neither their pension plans nor society will not be able to afford to pay those benefits over a longer retirement period. (We can’t even pay them as it is now.)

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