New Research Finds Short-Term Exposure To This Anti-Aging Drug May Increase Lifespan And Decrease Negative Effects Of Aging
Imagine if humans could live forever. This idea has mesmerized the public for centuries and has inspired countless sci-fi book series, comics, films, and even research studies.
But, scientists are more concerned with fighting the negative effects of aging and maintaining patient health nowadays. And a new study conducted by the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Aging has made some significant headway in this sector.
The researchers recognized that while lifestyle changes can definitely help ease the burden of ailments as people age, it is not enough. So, they began working with the most promising anti-aging drug currently known to man– and it is called rapamycin.
Rapamycin is an immunosuppressant and cell growth inhibitor that is typically utilized during cancer therapy or following organ transplants.
And the research team believed that repurposing this existing drug in smaller doses could prove effective in battling age-related decline.
“At the doses used clinically, rapamycin can have undesirable side effects. But for the use of the drug in the prevention of age-related decline, these need to be absent or minimal,” began Dr. Paula Juricic, the study’s lead investigator.
“Therefore, we wanted to find out when and how long we need to give rapamycin in order to achieve the same effects as lifelong treatment.”
In turn, the scientists tested various time windows of drug administration in fruit flies and discovered that a two-week window of rapamycin given to young adult fruit flies extended their lives and prevented age-related pathology.
A treatment window of three months was also found to be successful in young adult mice– showing the same benefits on intestinal health.
opolja – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purpose only, not the actual person
Sign up for Chip Chick’s newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox.
Moreover, the team realized that administering rapamycin early in adulthood provides the most robust and successful results as compared to middle age treatment.
So now, the researchers believe they may have a viable solution to age-related ailments that could be practically applied to humans.
Still, though, Linda Partridge, the study’s senior author, underscored that there are still many questions to answer.
“It will be important to discover whether it is possible to achieve the geroprotective efforts of rapamycin in mice and in humans with treatment starting later in life since, ideally, the period of treatment should be minimized. It may be possible also to use intermittent dosing,” Partridge said.
“This study has opened new doors but also raised many questions.”
To read the study’s complete findings, which have since been published in Nature Aging, visit the link here.
If true crime defines your free time, this is for you: join Chip Chick’s True Crime Tribe.
New Research Finds Why Narcissists Are More Likely To Believe In Conspiracy Theories
She Received A “Wellness Check” From Her Local Book Store After Ordering Two Dark Novels
More About:Human Interest
Read This Next
