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Previous research published earlier this year in Medicine of nature Paul L. Robbins and Laura J. Niedernhofer, professors of the University of Minnesota, and James L. Kirkland and Tamara Chkonia, researchers from the Mayo Clinic, have shown that it is possible to reduce the burden of cells damaged, called senescent cells, as well as prolonging the life span and improving health, even when the treatment was initiated late. They have now shown that the treatment of elderly mice with the natural product Fisetin, present in many fruits and vegetables, also had significant positive effects on health and longevity.
As you get older, people accumulate damaged cells. When cells reach a certain level of damage, they undergo their own aging process, called cell senescence. The cells also release inflammatory factors that invite the immune system to clean up damaged cells. The immune system of a younger person is healthy and is able to clean up damaged cells. But as people get older, they are not eliminated as effectively. Thus, they begin to accumulate, cause low intensity inflammation and release enzymes that can degrade the tissues.
Robbins and other researchers have discovered that a natural product, called Fisetin, reduces the level of these damaged cells in the body. They found this by treating the mice late in life with this compound and found an improvement in their health and longevity. The paper, "Fisetin is a Senotherapeutic Drug That Extends Health and Lifespan", has recently been published in EBioMedicine.
"These findings suggest that we can extend the health period, called healthspan, even toward the end of life," said Robbins. "But there are still many issues to be resolved, including the right mix, for example."
One question they can now answer, however, is why did not they do it before? There were still important limitations in determining how a drug would act on different tissues, different cells in an aging body. The researchers had no way of identifying whether a treatment actually attacked senescent cells, until now.
Under the direction of Edgar Arriaga, a professor in the Department of Chemistry at the College of Science and Engineering of the University of Minnesota, the team used mass cytometry technology, or CyTOF, and the 39; applied for the first time in research on aging unique to the University of Minnesota.
"In addition to showing that the drug works, it is the first demonstration showing the effects of the drug on specific subsets of these damaged cells in a given tissue." Robbins said.
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Material provided by Minnesota Medical University. Note: Content can be changed for style and length.
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