People are looking again and again for ways to preserve the beauty of youth and a wonderful opportunity to revive an aging body. A person will never come to terms with the fact that he is not able to prolong the charm of youth and lengthen the period of earthly existence so sparingly measured for him. Count Saint-Germain, Cagliostro, Dorian Gray, Faust paid a high price for the opportunity to stay longer in this world and be in the prime of life.
Currently, there are about 300 hypotheses explaining the causes of aging and death of living organisms, including humans. The task of canceling the aging of the body has already passed into the rank of engineering projects. Today, the question is more likely not how to do it, but which of the directions will be the first to be brought to practical use. A complex of high technologies is becoming a means for defeating aging: nanomedicine, genetic engineering, biotechnology and other equally interesting scientific areas.
Given the accelerating pace of advances in technology, it is hoped that first-generation anti-aging therapy (one that will provide at least three additional decades of youthful life) will help people survive until they can extend their years of existence by another fifty years. In total, today a person theoretically has 80 years in reserve. The participants of the Oxford conference of geneticists came to the conclusion that the development of science in the near future will increase the average life expectancy in developed countries to 120 years.
American biologist Leonard Hayflick proved in 1961 that animal and human cells cannot divide more than a certain number of times. Ten years later, the Soviet biologist Aleksey Olovnikov found out that at the ends of any chromosome there are protective caps - telomeres, which shorten during each cell division, and they are a kind of clock of biological aging of the cell.
Not so long ago, a group of researchers from California identified a gene that synthesizes an enzyme that can lengthen chromosome telomeres. With the help of this gene of youth, it was possible to double the limiting number of cell divisions. Consequently, hypothetically, the lifespan of the experimental cell doubled. Now it remains to be seen what happens if this gene is introduced into the cells of the human body.
Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute have discovered a gene that synthesizes a protein that prolongs the life of a cell. Biologists have performed a number of experiments on rats. Mutant animals lived one and a half times longer than ordinary white rats. Nine gene mutations have been identified that allow mice to live 50% longer, and dozens of such genes have been found in worms and fruit flies.
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For the first time, simply feeding flies with medicine lengthened their lives. And contrary to all the existing theories of aging, this did not bring them any harm. By testing 4-phenylbutyrate on flies with nervous system damage, scientists found that the drug increased the maximum lifespan of healthy flies by 50%. Moreover, large doses turned out to be either toxic or ineffective: a delicate balance had to be found for maximum cell recovery.
Earlier studies showed that fruit flies' lifespan increased the decline in fertility and the half-starved existence, so scientists suggested that the new drug mimics this effect. However, by measuring the weight of the flies and counting their offspring, the researchers found that they were completely normal for these parameters.
To test the ability of the experimental group to withstand stress, scientists starved the insects and then fed them with compounds rich in free radicals. It turned out that the participants in the experiment were not weakened at all, but demonstrated even greater survival than the control group. However, side effects may appear much later.
The “Elixir of Youth” had its effect by stimulating the activity of more than 100 genes and suppressing the effect of 50 more. This does not mean at all that anti-aging pills will soon appear in pharmacies. The fact is that mammalian cells continue to divide and renew themselves throughout life, so making large changes in gene expression carries a high risk. So far, work is being carried out to activate the already existing genes in the human body that can postpone old age.
Surprisingly, one of the ways to prolong youth is the use of red wine. David Sinclair of Harvard discovered that the most potent youth stimulant was resveratrol, a chemical found in large quantities in red wine. So far, no immortals have been found among lovers of this wonderful drink, but the fact that consumption of resveratrol in moderation (even in a diluted form) prolongs life and youth by several years is already good news.
Richard Miller of the University of Michigan said that experiments with laboratory mice and rats, similar in genetic structure to humans, will extend life by 40% simply by reducing the calorie intake. A gene has already been found that is responsible for activating the necessary processes. One of the low-calorie primates died at the age of 41, the equivalent of 123 human years.
In search of the secret to longevity, a group of scientists from New York made a revolutionary discovery. They managed to find a special gene mutation that allows people to live up to a hundred years. The study involved approximately 300 elderly Ashkenazi Jews, of whom 158 were aged 95 and over.
After analyzing the absolutely diverse information about the participants in the experiment, scientists did not find anything in common between them and came to the conclusion that genetics was to blame for their longevity. Later, a quarter of the members of this group showed a pronounced mutation, the so-called longevity gene.
Quite unexpectedly, experts noticed that many members of the experimental group demonstrate surprising abilities for old age to remember and concentrate. Employees of the Medical College. Einstein concluded that this is also due to the gene mutation they discovered. It turned out that it was all about “bad” and “good” cholesterol.
The gene mutation ensures that "good" cholesterol is predominant, so that good blood flow is maintained in the body. As a result - the absence of cardiovascular diseases, a good supply of oxygen and other useful substances to brain cells. That is why centenarians were not only able to reach such a venerable age, but also retained their sobriety and sharpness of thought.
Experts consider this discovery to be extremely promising, since with a detailed study of the longevity gene, it is possible to repeat its features in a medicine that will become the elixir of youth. Scientists are now experimenting with other genes. It is quite possible that the cumulative result of the work will extend a person's full life.
The recognized leader of the work on "immortality" is the director of the Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology of Moscow State University, academician Vladimir Skulachev, who published the results of his work in the prestigious publication "Nature". Experiments with a substance synthesized in Russia are being carried out on mice in several Russian research centers. The essence of Skulachev's work is to search for counteraction to the possibility of toxic forms of oxygen to penetrate the cell membrane, where in a split second they disable genes and lead to aging.
The cell has defense mechanisms, but sometimes it refuses to defend itself. This is a mechanism of voluntary death - apoptosis, which is triggered when a cell must be excluded from the reproduction process. Apoptosis of the whole organism is a fundamental novelty of Skulachev's theory. The scientist believes that the program of aging and death of the body can be disabled and thereby turn off the mechanism that shortens our life.
Skulachev is sure that old age is the same disease of the body as heart attack and cancer. And since this is a disease, then it can be treated. A stable positive trend has already been achieved, there is hope for a full recovery. In the near future we will live happily ever after.
Used materials from the article by Valentina Belikova