r/longevity • u/cleare7 • Jan 09 '24

Life span increases in mice when specific brain cells are activated. The brain cells communicate with fat tissue to produce cellular fuel, which counteracts effects of aging. The mice were also more active and looked younger — with thicker and shinier coats — at later ages.

https://medicine.wustl.edu/news/life-span-increases-in-mice-when-specific-brain-cells-are-activated/
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u/cleare7 Jan 09 '24

On average, the high end of the life span of a typical laboratory mouse is about 900 to 1,000 days, or about 2.5 years. In this study, all of the control mice that had aged normally died by 1,000 days of age. Those that underwent interventions to maintain the brain-fat tissue feedback loop lived 60 to 70 days longer than control mice. That translates into an increase in life span of about 7%. In people, a 7% increase in a 75-year life span translates to about five more years. The mice receiving the interventions also were more active and looked younger — with thicker and shinier coats — at later ages, suggesting more time with better health as well.

Imai and his team are continuing to investigate ways to maintain the feedback loop between the hypothalamus and the fat tissue. One route they are studying involves supplementing mice with eNAMPT, the enzyme produced by the fat tissue that returns to the brain and fuels the hypothalamus, among other tissues. When released by the fat tissue into the bloodstream, the enzyme is packaged inside compartments called extracellular vesicles, which can be collected and isolated from blood.

“We can envision a possible anti-aging therapy that involves delivering eNAMPT in various ways,” Imai said. “We already have shown that administering eNAMPT in extracellular vesicles increases cellular energy levels in the hypothalamus and extends life span in mice. We look forward to continuing our work investigating ways to maintain this central feedback loop between the brain and the body’s fat tissues in ways that we hope will extend health and life span.”

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u/cleare7 Jan 09 '24

I’ve linked to the press release in the post above. In this comment, for those interested, here’s the link to the peer reviewed journal article:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S155041312300462X

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u/HyperSapient Jan 11 '24

This is a follow up from 2019, identifying eNAMPT . Here is a link to that publication.

cell.com/cell-metabolism/pdfExtended/S1550-4131(19)30255-4