Can aging be slowed, or even reversed?

The UK Express reports,

To discover if adding stem cells to the hypothalamus counteract ageing, the researchers injected hypothalamic stem cells into the brains of middle-aged mice whose stem cells had been destroyed as well as into the brains of normal old mice.

In both groups of animals, the treatment slowed or reversed various measures of aging.

...hypothalamic stem cells appear to exert their anti-ageing effects by releasing molecules called microRNAs (miRNAs).

They are not involved in protein synthesis but instead play key roles in regulating gene expression.

The miRNAs are packaged inside tiny particles called exosomes, which hypothalamic stem cells release into the cerebrospinal fluid of mice.

The researchers extracted miRNA-containing exosomes from hypothalamic stem cells and injected them into the cerebrospinal fluid of two groups of mice - middle-aged mice whose hypothalamic stem cells had been destroyed and normal middle-aged mice.

The treatment "significantly slowed" ageing in both groups of animals as measured by tissue analysis and behavioural testing that involved assessing changes in the animals' muscle endurance, coordination, social behavior and cognitive ability.

Now the researchers are trying to identify the particular populations of miRNAs and perhaps other factors secreted by the stem cells that are responsible for the anti-ageing effects - a first step toward possibly slowing the ageing process and treating age-related diseases.

The ageing study was published online by the journal Nature.

Read more here.