Posted on 07/26/2017 11:30:31 AM PDT by Red Badger
THE brain cells that control ageing have been discovered offering the hope of people living longer
Scientists have found that stem cells in the brain's hypothalamus govern how fast ageing occurs in the body.
The discovery, made in mice, could lead to new strategies for warding off age-related diseases and extending lifespan, they claim.
The hypothalamus was known to regulate important processes including growth, development, reproduction and metabolism.
In 2013, researchers made the surprising finding that it also regulates ageing throughout the body.
Now, the same scientists have now pinpointed a tiny population of adult neural stem cells, known to be responsible for forming new brain neurons, that control ageing.
Study senior author Professor Dongsheng Cai, of Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the US, said: "Our research shows that the number of hypothalamic neural stem cells naturally declines over the life of the animal, and this decline accelerates ageing.
"But we also found that the effects of this loss are not irreversible. By replenishing these stem cells or the molecules they produce, it's possible to slow and even reverse various aspects of aging throughout the body."
In studying whether stem cells in the hypothalamus held the key to ageing, the researchers first looked at the fate of those cells as healthy mice got older.
The number of the cells began to diminish when the animals reached about 10 months, which is several months before the usual signs of ageing start appearing.
Prof Cai said: "By old age - about two years of age in mice - most of those cells were gone."
The researchers next wanted to learn whether this progressive loss of stem cells was actually causing ageing and was not just associated with it.
They observed what happened when they selectively disrupted the hypothalamic stem cells in middle-aged mice.
Prof Cai said: "This disruption greatly accelerated aging compared with control mice, and those animals with disrupted stem cells died earlier than normal."
To discover if adding stem cells to the hypothalamus counteract ageing, the researchers injected hypothalamic stem cells into the brains of middle-aged mice whose stem cells had been destroyed as well as into the brains of normal old mice.
In both groups of animals, the treatment slowed or reversed various measures of aging.
Dr. Cai and his colleagues found that the hypothalamic stem cells appear to exert their anti-ageing effects by releasing molecules called microRNAs (miRNAs).
They are not involved in protein synthesis but instead play key roles in regulating gene expression.
The miRNAs are packaged inside tiny particles called exosomes, which hypothalamic stem cells release into the cerebrospinal fluid of mice.
The researchers extracted miRNA-containing exosomes from hypothalamic stem cells and injected them into the cerebrospinal fluid of two groups of mice - middle-aged mice whose hypothalamic stem cells had been destroyed and normal middle-aged mice.
The treatment "significantly slowed" ageing in both groups of animals as measured by tissue analysis and behavioural testing that involved assessing changes in the animals' muscle endurance, coordination, social behavior and cognitive ability.
Now the researchers are trying to identify the particular populations of miRNAs and perhaps other factors secreted by the stem cells that are responsible for the anti-ageing effects - a first step toward possibly slowing the ageing process and treating age-related diseases.
The ageing study was published online by the journal Nature.
That is great! Now figure out how my money can last through the longer life!
Darn. I’ve been looking forward to the Clintons and Pelosi aging themselves off the planet.
Rats! Those are the brain cells I killed off in my twenties.
By mining bitcoin?
just in time to extend the stay of Pelosi and McCain and Lindsay-girl and all the other old-farts in Congress for ANOTHER 30 years!
God numbered man to 120 years. Good luck.
Well, Hillliary probably killed hers with booze and Nancy botoxed hers to death....................
Just wait, next week there will be dozens of late night infomercials touting the effects of their snake oil that ‘helps’ and ‘supports’ your hypothalamus health.................count on it!...............
But you are entitled to only threescore and ten, 70....................
“Now figure out how my money can last through the longer life!”
Get a job as “greeter” at Walmart?
But this therapy can help by injecting new ones!...................
He also gave us the brain power to raise that number ourselves. We will need to live much longer if we are going to leave Earth.
“Just wait, next week there will be dozens of late night infomercials touting the effects of their snake oil that ‘helps’ and ‘supports’ your hypothalamus health.................count on it!...............”
Apple cider vinegar. It cures everything.
God’s number was pretty final. Prior to that, humans would live hundreds of years, lots got up to no good heh.
A greeter at Walmart? No thanks! I would rather die having a good time!!
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