Slowing Aging, Could it be?

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THE world's scientists are looking at ways to slow aging. Not only that human life is longer, it also attempts to prevent the diseases of old age.


(Elderly) and disease are inseparable. When age, organ and immune function will decrease drastically. However, scientists are now beginning to decode the complex biology of aging, and they are optimistic can handle it. You do this by slowing or even reversing the process of degeneration and disease.

"We see a big change (in this study), a very important development and a real effort to do therapy to treat age-related diseases," said Norman Sharpless, an associate professor of medicine and genetics at the University of North Carolina, as quoted by AFP.

Research in France, led by Jean-Marc Lemaitre Institute of Functional Genomics, which was published last October, revealed that cells from elderly donors can be rejuvenated as a stem cell, remove the damage caused by age and prove that aging can be changed.

"This is a big improvement," said Sharpless. He noted that if a lot age-related diseases, like cancer, cardiovascular problems, and Alzheimer's, must be eradicated, then the part of regenerative medicine will diperlukan.Namun, he stressed that cellular therapy is very difficult to develop.

At the end of 2010, a study in Boston, United States, suggests that the process of aging can be reversed.

This has been demonstrated in mice that were given treatment with telomerase, an enzyme naturally in the body that protects the DNA sequences (telomeres) at the ends of chromosomes that shorten and cellular senescence.

A second study conducted in mice genetically-published in early November in the British journal Nature. This study shows that the removal of senescent cells, which stop updating and upgrading themselves with age-they represent 10 percent-15 percent of the parental cells. And this is what can prevent or delay aging.

Chromosome telomeredapat protect chromosomes from damage, but may shorten life, until the cells are no longer able to replicate. Prof. Ronald DePinho and colleagues manipulated the enzyme that regulates these perversions, known as telomerase, and showed dramatic results. Mice engineered to lack the enzyme from an early age, but when the enzyme was replaced, and rats will reverse time back to being young.

"What we hope for is to slow the aging process of moving or stable," said DePinho. Instead, the research team also witnessed a dramatic reversal of aging process. "The brain is growing larger animals, they improve cognition, their hair restored to a healthy sheen and their fertility is also restored," he added.

"One day we may be able to break the link between the mechanisms of aging and predisposition to diseases, like heart disease, stroke, cancer and dementia," said James Kirkland from the Mayo Clinic Robert and Arlene Kogod Center on Aging.

This there is the potential for fundamental changes in providing treatment for chronic diseases in the parents. Mice treated with a substance that causes their senescent cells to destroy themselves. This treatment can also improve health.

Judith Campisi of the Buck Institute for Age Research, University of California, Berkeley, says a recent study conducted in France and the United States bodes well for the future of world health.

"Of course we have not got there, there is still a long way to begin to do it," he said.

Perry, president of the Alliance For Aging Research in Washington, argued that this research could lead to the development of therapies to combat aging and other major diseases.

"But it will take more cost and effort to bring across the line to the treatment," he said.