Ageing is often related to degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, but now a breakthrough is achieved in the research for treating these. Scientists have found a way of giving old and tired muscles, responsible for degeneration, a new lease of life.
An experiment was conducted on mice by tweaking its biochemical signals to increase the ability of its stem cells to restore the youthful vigor. Conducted by the University of California, Berkeley the study was published in the journal Nature. The study stated that adult stem cells play an important role in helping to repair the mature and differentiated cells which constitutes the body’s tissues. It identified two key regulatory pathways that could control the working of the adult stem cells thus, tricking them into making the repair work faster. The experiment revived the muscle tissue in the old mice making it as vigorous as its younger counterparts. This will also solve the ethical question in the use of stem cells derived from embryos as they make use of the individual’s own stem cells. According to one of the researcher Dr Morgan Carlson,
We are one step closer to having a point of intervention where we can rejuvenate the body’s own stem cells so we don’t have to suffer from some of the debilitating diseases associated with ageing.
The research now aims at finding the cell regeneration capacity of the young to adjust it when older, thus, avoiding muscle degeneration in older age.
Via: BBC
Image Credit: Wellcome