This Compound Can Reverse Aging in Mice. Will It Work in People?

Mice are by no means men — but the results of a new mouse study are still encouraging for man’s search for longer life. In a study published in the journal Cell, researchers report that they found a molecule that essentially reactivates faltering blood flow in aging mice. Compromised blood flow is a major component of aging, since it deprives tissues and organs, including the brain, of the essential nutrients and oxygen they need to function. “Loss of blood flow seems to be one of the early things that leads to diseases of aging,” says David Sinclair, the study’s senior author and co-director of the Paul F. Glenn center for the biology of aging at Harvard Medical School. “As organs like the brain and muscles lose their [blood] perfusion, they no longer function effectively.” In the study, Sinclair and his colleagues found a way to restore that blood flow in aging mice. They provided elderly mice with a molecule called nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN), which is then made into another compound that promotes the formation of tiny blood vessels in cells that line the muscle, as well as other organs. The mice given NMN increased their treadmill run time by 60% compared to animals that didn’t get the molecule, and they doubled their exercise endurance — to levels that matched or even exceeded that of younger mice. MORE: Scientists Can Reverse DNA Aging in Mice What NMN does, Sinclair says, is provide the same benefits in impr...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Aging healthytime Source Type: news