Scientists from the University of Leeds in the UK tickled the ears of volunteers over 55 every day with mild electric shocks for two weeks. As a result, the subjects felt better and slept better. Researchers believe this therapy has slowed the aging of the body. What other unusual ways does science offer to prolong youth and how effective are they?
Tickle your nerves
A special device that emits discharges of two to four milliamperes is attached to the tragus, a small cartilaginous protrusion on the outer ear. Two dozen volunteers over 55 turned it on for 15 minutes daily for two weeks. This did not cause discomfort, the current discharges felt like tickling.
Almost all participants in the experiment had an increase in heart rate variability - an indicator describing changes in the interval between the beginning of one heart cycle and the next. It is believed that the higher the variability, the lower the risk of death from heart attack. Also, the volunteers increased their sensitivity to baroreflex, that is, the aortic receptors began to respond better to changes in blood pressure, and the activity of the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) increased.
Her neurons produce the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which promotes relaxation, slows heart rate, dilates blood vessels, and lowers blood pressure. With age, the activity of the parasympathetic nervous system decreases and its antagonist, the sympathetic nervous system (SNS), begins to dominate, whose neurons produce adrenaline, which raises the heart rate and increases blood pressure. This is why older people experience problems with sleep, heart, blood pressure and bowel problems.
The device, developed by scientists at the University of Leeds, is attached to a cartilaginous protrusion on the outer ear. This is the easiest way to get to the vagus nerve, the regular stimulation of which makes you feel better.
The device, developed by British scientists, stimulated the vagus nerve and thereby restored the balance between PNS and SNS, which is characteristic of healthy young people. As a result, health indicators improved, and the subjects themselves admitted that they feel much better and sleep better.
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Young blood
Transfusing blood to older people from younger donors has the potential to improve brain function, increase cognition and even form new blood vessels, the researchers suggest. The revitalizing effect of young blood is explained by the action of the GDF11 protein, which affects, among other things, the work of the brain and muscles. With age, its amount in the blood decreases, which causes senile changes in the body.
Since 2013, a team of biologists from Harvard University have been injecting GDF11 into elderly laboratory mice. In rodents, muscles become younger, heart function improves, new blood vessels are formed. In addition, animals are better at coping with tasks for memory and learning, and in the hippocampus - the part of the brain involved in the formation of long-term memory - they form new neural connections.
These results inspired one company to conduct human clinical trials. Elderly volunteers received blood plasma transfusions from donors aged 16 to 25 years. For those with heart problems or Alzheimer's, the procedure really helped. But in some patients, the improvements, unfortunately, turned out to be temporary.
Get rid of old cells
All human cells, except for embryonic stem cells, stop dividing after 40-50 cycles, when the number of accumulated mutations becomes critical. According to scientists, in this way, cells protect themselves and the body as a whole from cancer, but trigger the aging mechanism. After all, the accumulation of such cells turned off from work is the cause of physiological changes associated with old age.
Today, several research teams around the world are looking for ways to remove aged cells from the body. In 2016, researchers from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester (USA) created a line of mice with a special system embedded in their DNA that allows them to selectively kill such cells. As a result, genetically modified rodents lived a third longer than their relatives, did not suffer from age-related diseases, and their muscles did not grow decrepit.
Two years later, molecular biologists at the National Institute of Aging in Bethesda (USA) proposed using a mixture of two substances to destroy dead cells - dasatinib, a medicine for leukemia, and quercetin, which gives onions a bitter taste. The first was to kill old cells, the second was to reduce the inflammation caused by the action of dasatinib.
Experiments in mice have shown that the new drug works. Rodents given even small doses lived 36 percent longer than animals in the control group. At the same time, their risk of death decreased by an average of 65 percent.
Replace old organs with new ones
One of the main problems of age is wear and tear of internal organs. The solution would be to transplant artificial ones. At least that's what the researchers are proposing, who have created a biological 3D printer that can print human tissue with viable capillaries.
Scientists have already managed to print out part of the jawbone, muscle and human ears. Moreover, they implanted the latter under the skin of laboratory mice. Two months after implantation, the ears were still in shape, and new cartilage and blood vessel systems formed around them.
If the authors of the work prove the safety of this invention, it would be possible not only to solve the problem of aging, but also to end the acute deficit of organs for transplantation to patients.
