Bemoaning the Lack of Standardization in Animal Studies of Aging

It is fair to say that the diversity of academia brings downsides in addition to upsides. A monolithic culture tends to mean slow progress: too little is explored at the borders of what is known when one viewpoint prevails at the expense of all others. A diverse culture produces such a variety of standards that it becomes challenging to compare any two studies. The paper-length complaint here is outlines the problems facing any scientist who is engaged in an analysis of published animal study data on the topic of intervening to slow or reverse aging, with a particular focus on the harms produced by a diversity of strategies for scientific controls in life span studies. The search for interventions to slow down and even reverse aging is a burgeoning field. The literature cites hundreds of supposedly beneficial pharmacological and genetic interventions in model organisms: mice, rats, flies and worms, where research into physiology is routinely accompanied by lifespan data. However, when experimental animals from one article live as long as controls from another article, comparing the results of interventions across studies can yield misleading outcomes. Theoretically, all lifespan data are ripe for re-analysis: we could contrast the molecular targets and pathways across studies and help focus the further search for interventions. Alas, the results of most longevity studies are difficult to compare. This is in part because there are no clear, universally accepte...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs