Guest guest Posted January 24, 2002 Report Share Posted January 24, 2002 Ananova : Scientists move closer to finding 'elixir of life' Scientists working on a discovering an elixir of life say it has already worked on fruit flies. The drug is said to increase longevity while maintaining youthful health. US researchers are confident enough to be planning a new set of experiments on mice. The processes involved could open up important new leads in understanding ageing. The drug is called 4-phenylbutyrate (PBA) and has already been approved in the US for treating cystic fibrosis and sickle cell anaemia. Its influence on lifespan was discovered by accident while the scientists were investigating its effect on fruit flies with neurodegenerative disease. Giving the drug to healthy flies extended their maximum lifespan by more than 50% and their average lifespan by a third. But the most significant outcome was the fact that there was no price to pay for the extra time, New Scientist magazine reports. Previous research has indicated that normally there is a trade off between long lifespan and health and sexual vigour. The flies, far from paying for their longevity with a weaker constitution, survived better than those not given PBA. Their weight remained normal and they produced normal numbers of offspring. Kyung-Tai Min, leading the research team from the National Institutes of Health and California Institute of Technology, said: " We are going to test more, but so far, it seems they are perfect. " Story filed: 19:08 Wednesday 23rd January 2002 _____________ Get the FREE email that has everyone talking at http://www.mail2world.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 25, 2002 Report Share Posted January 25, 2002 Lots of things are well known to prolong lifespan. BHT, deprenyl, calorie restriction to name a few. In rats, too, which are a LOT closer to people than fruit flies are. Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 26, 2002 Report Share Posted January 26, 2002 Andy, Maybe. http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/science/2000/0605/sci2.htm Furthermore, when this lab isolated the same eye development gene from the mouse and inserted it into the fruit fly, the resulting embryo developed an extra fly eye instead of a mouse eye. It was clear that these genes acted as a common molecular currency that could perform the same job in completely different animals. The experiment firmly established the role of this gene family as master control genes. _____________ Get the FREE email that has everyone talking at http://www.mail2world.com <> > > andrewhallcutler > 1/25/2002 5:27:33 AM > Gettingwell > Re: Lifespan In rats, too, which are a LOT > > closer to people than fruit flies are. > > > > Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.