No accumulation of old cells slows ageing
Some of the old-age herds are due to the accumulation of old cells in the body, as reported in Nature by researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Eliminating the mice from these old cells, they saw that the cataracts began later and that they lost muscle mass more slowly, among others.
In aging, 5% of body cells are called senescent cells, which maintain their function but are no longer divided. Scientists believe that these old cells cause age-related changes in the surrounding tissues, as they are the parts of the body that accumulate most, especially damaged with age, such as the eyes and muscles.
Mice were tested if this hypothesis is based. Mice were genetically modified to remove old cells: by igniting a gene (p16lnk4a), indicative of senescence in cells, they also caused the appearance of genes involved in cell death (under normal conditions they would not be active). Thus, when a certain drug was administered, they could cause cell death in senescent cells.
The modified mice who took this medication from the time of their weaning, were given cataracts 100 days after what had not been transformed. Likewise, the old transformed mice had twice as much muscle mass as the normal mice of the same age, and the shavings and accumulations of fat in the spine were similar to young mice. However, these changes did not lengthen the life expectancy of mice.
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