A group of Italian scientists succeeded rewind the age of the heart very old mice and plan to do the same with people who are about 100 years old. This will be quite a challenge because struggle with longevity It has been one of the greatest human hobbies for thousands of years. One need only see the efforts of so many researchers to find source of eternal youth. Today we know that it is impossible to live forever, at least not with modern tools. But yeah what Little by little we manage to live longer and better.
The discovery of these scientists would be a giant step in this direction. path to healthy longevity. Without a doubt, the heart is one of the organs that fails the most when we reach a certain age. Being able to rewind your signs of aging would be great news.
They did this by discovering a gene variant found in people who over 90 with good cardiovascular health. By introducing it into the cells of mice, they were able to turn the molecular markers of longevity into the equivalent 10 human years. The results in human heart cell cultures have also been very promising. There are plenty of reasons to continue the investigation. It’s not a fountain of youth, but at least something much more realistic.
The gene responsible for the longevity of the heart
It all started with a previous study that found that most people over 90 with strong hearts specific variant of the BPIFB4 gene. This is due to faster and more efficient synthesis new blood vessels. This helps the heart stay stronger. Thus, the natural decline in cardiovascular health is reversed.
They tried to modify mouse cells to add this gene variant. And they also did the same with cell cultures. extracted from the hearts of elderly patients with heart failure.
The results have been so positive that they hope to conduct them with people in the future. However, prior to clinical trials with this longevity geneThere is something you must keep in mind.
Better protein than gene
Inserting new genes into cells can carry risks. For this reason, these scientists suggest that for the purpose of human clinical trials, it would be more beneficial to administer directly protein. But what does it mean?
To understand this, we must remember that DNA contains the instructions that govern everything in the body. These instructions are carried out through proteins. That is, a piece of DNA known as a gene translated into protein, which will have a specific function. And it’s actually much safer to inject the protein directly, as the protein can’t be inserted in the wrong places genome or cause other undesirable effects.
For this reason, the next step for these scientists will be to test whether the protein encoded by the gene variant they are studying produces same effects. If so, it would be a good candidate for future treatments to help restore heart longevity.
This would be great news. After all, one of the main goals of successful aging is to do it with strong heart. We may already be on the path to cardiovascular health, like the best centenarians.
Source: Hiper Textual
