Friday, November 13, 2015
Turn back time
In the effort to cure alzhiemer's disease a group of scientist at Salk institute have found a drug that will slow aging. The current treatments for alzhiemer's disease has focused on breakup the amyloids that build up in the cell. Their question was what if the amyloids were prevented to begin with. Alzhiemer's is connected to aging in some way. Older cells and DNA are more prone to mutations and mutations cause the misfolded proteins that then clump together.
Well the answer to this question came in the form of the drug J127. While feeding transgenic mice J127 to see if it would slow alzhiemer's progression they found that the mice showed better memory and were "younger" than the control mice. Using an undefined set of physiological factors these transgenic mice treated with J127 were at a younger state than the control mice. They showed improved memory and less alzhiemer's symptoms. These mice even looked younger than the control mice.
This is would be a great way to help alzhiemer's patients. By not allowing amyoids to for there won't be damage that cannot be reversed. However, it would be interesting to see if this drug could extend life. But even as just a treatment for old age and not specifically alzhiemer's this drug would be helpful. If it works the same way with humans as it does with mice it would be able to give people to ability to live independently and have a better quality of life longer. As it is now there really is a certain point where the older people cannot function in society. Their memories are no longer as good and the body starts to break down. I wonder if this drug would be able to help with the gradual break down of the body by slowing aging.
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Is this the start to living forever? It sounds very promising, but I wonder what side effects it has and it's longevity. Are the mice only given one dose or is it something they would need to take on a daily basis?
ReplyDeleteI wonder also what the overall effect would extending senescence have on the economy. Many countries that experienced sharp declines in population growth in the last 50 years are becoming imbalanced with the number of older people (who aren't likely to work) beginning to outnumber those supporting them. I guess we could always push retirement back.
ReplyDeleteThis is definitely an interesting development if it works the sam way in humans, but I agree that I would be concerned about what long term effects this would have on society.
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