Fri Aug 26, 2005 7:40 pm   Reply with quote      

Scientists have identified a hormone that significantly extends the life span of mice, a crucial discovery that could mark a step toward developing drugs that boost humans’ longevity.

The hormone is the first substance identified that is produced naturally in mammals, including humans, and can extend life span.

Much more work is needed to study the substance and investigate whether the hormone or a similar compound would be effective and safe in people, experts cautioned.

But the discovery opens highly promising avenues for research and provides tantalizing new clues toward deciphering the basic biology of aging.

“This is a significant discovery. It’s an exciting paper,” said Anna McCormick of the National Institute on Aging, which helped finance the new research, published online Thursday by the journal Science.

“It’s definitely the way you would go about designing molecules that would promote healthy aging and longevity in people.”

Makoto Kuro-o of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas led the research.

The discovery was triggered by a study Kuro-o and his colleagues published in 1997, which identified a gene in mice that, when damaged, caused the animals to experience all the hallmarks of aging in humans — hardening of the arteries, thinning bones, withered skin, weak lungs — and to die prematurely.

They dubbed the gene Klotho for the Greek goddess who spins the thread of life.

Aaron

Fri Aug 26, 2005 9:01 pm   Reply with quote      

How many years would you like to live? 80 years? 100 years? 200 years?

Sat Aug 27, 2005 12:00 am   Reply with quote      

This is all so very interesting. I have a couple of women in my family who lived to be over 90. Now these were poor women without any good healthcare....
You can just never tell. Then people who purposely try to live longer, could just die in an accident one day. Who knows?

Sat Aug 27, 2005 12:12 am   Reply with quote      

Maybe not financial wealth, but they had spiritual wealth?

Sat Aug 27, 2005 12:28 am   Reply with quote      

Ooen,
I definitely suppose that they did. I don't remember them being really spiritual/religious.

But you just never know what makes some people live so long. In the newspaper the other week, in my hometown, guess what. A woman and her son got arrested for drug possession. He was in his 60's.....and she was 90

It seems that she didn't have it together spiritually, but she lived soooooooooooo long.

Sat Aug 27, 2005 5:21 am   Reply with quote      

Pretty interesting. Maybe it's not about having good healthcare coverage, nor is it about being spiritually healthy. Maybe it's only about being spiritually strong.