No one can escape aging. It is associated with dynamic changes in the biological, physiological, environmental, psychological, and social aspects of a living creature. Some results decrease sense function and increase susceptibility to disease, frailty, or disability.
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Are scientists close to discovering a way to delay aging?
Many scientists have already tried to develop products or methods that can delay or reverse the effects of aging. Recently, Science Times reported that researchers from USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences showed how mifepristone could extend the lives of Drosophila and C. elegans.
Now, scientists at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) may be one step closer to slowing down the aging process.
Understand the aging process of cells
The team of researchers studied aging in yeast cells. They chose yeast as study material because it can be easily manipulated. Using it, they tried to understand if different cells age at the same time and for the same reason.
Their study yielded intriguing results. They found that although cells with the same genetic materials and within the same environment can age in “surprisingly different ways,” said the scientists who published their findings in the journal Science.
Scientists used techniques that include microfluidics and computer modeling and learned that approximately 50% of yeast cells aged due to a gradual decrease in the cells’ nucleolus, a round body located in the nucleus of a cell.
But the other half of the yeast cells aged because there is a dysfunction of the mitochondria, the inexhaustible source of the cell.
According to scientists, cells descend by one of two pathways, either nuclear or mitochondrial, early in life. They continue on the aging path until they eventually decline and die. The scientists conducted further tests to find out how the cells behaved.
“To understand how cells make these decisions, we identified the molecular processes underlying each aging pathway and the connections between them, revealing a molecular circuitry that controls cellular aging, analogous to the electrical circuits that control household appliances,” Nan said. Hao, lead author of the study and an associate professor in the molecular biology section of the USCD division of biological sciences.
Also read: Long Life – Here we show you how to extend its lifespan according to science
Designing a new aging path
When the team finished modeling the “aging landscape,” they discovered that they could manipulate and optimize the aging process using computer simulations to reprogram the cell’s master circuit and modify its DNA.
They were able to create a “new aging route” with a long shelf life. They believe that it could ultimately lead to the possibility of delaying the aging of humans.
“This is an aging route that never existed, but because we understand how it is regulated, we can basically design or regulate a new aging route,” said Hao.
Their study raises the possibility of designing genetic or chemical-based therapies to reprogram the human aging process to delay it and possibly extend human life.
Scientists now plan to test their model on complex cells, organisms, and humans, and test how combinations of therapies and drugs could lead to increased longevity.
Read more: Dilution of blood plasma with albumin and saline could regenerate tissue and reverse aging: study
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