Old Mice "Cheat Death"

   Hi there! How’re you doing today, eh?  Thanks for clicking by. Coffee’s ready for you and I see by the mug in your hand that you’re ready for coffee so pour yourself a mugful, grab a virtual  treat and mosey over to the table here. Thanks today to Brian in Pattaya, Thailand for sending me the topic for today’s post. I pared it down a mite, like a surgeon removing fat from the body of a grossly obese person – not that that was Brian’s fault, mind you, but I have to keep my posts relatively short lest my readers nod off. Anyway, let’s talk mice…not computer mice – real though old mice. 

   In a landmark study that sounds like science fiction, a professor at Harvard Medical School regenerated the brains of aging mice by turning on a switch inside their cells.  

The mice, who were the equivalent of elderly men, had all the classic signs of old age: Their brains were smaller... they were going blind... they stopped having sex... their hair was gray... and they couldn’t find their way through a maze or remember where their food was.  

But when this Harvard professor hit the switch in their cells, the tissues and organs in their body -- including their brains -- started to regenerate and grow back to normal size.

Even a slight change in brain size would have been a miracle... but what happened was even more remarkable. The gray hair was gone. So was the poor eyesight and shrunken brains. In fact, there was nothing left that could distinguish them as “old.”

And here’s the best part: This “Age-Reversing Switch” Can Be Turned On in Us Too

That means we now have the ability to repair our own aging brains... reignite our flagging sex drives... correct our failing eyesight... and sharpen our minds as if we were 21 again.

The “switch” responsible for this dramatic reversal of aging is telomerase. It’s the enzyme that helps you rebuild the “biological clocks” at the end of your DNA called telomeres. Telomeres are the “time keepers” attached to every strand of your DNA. Each time your cells divide, your telomeres get shorter. When your telomeres become too short, cell division stops and your life ends.

By slowing down the loss of your telomeres, you not only extend your lifespan, you stay younger longer. As the telomere gets shorter, your body produces cells that are older, weaker and more decrepit.  This speeding up of telomere loss actually causes your body to transcribe an older, more dysfunctional part of your genome. That means your body becomes weaker, more frail and open to all the diseases of aging. 

Slowing the loss of the telomere, and in some cases making the telomere longer, is how you grow “biologically younger.” Regardless of your chronological age, you can enjoy the energy and physical power of someone much younger. When the mice had their telomerase turned on, they were rejuvenated after only one month. 

Their telomeres were longer, and their telomerase levels increased. Brain cells that were dormant came back to life, producing new neurons. Their shrunken organs, like spleens and even testes and brain... grew in size.

Key organs functioned better, and the mice got their sense of smell back. The males also produced new sperm cells, and their mates gave birth to larger litters. The mice went on to live long healthy lives.

Now wasn’t that a pleasant tale (or should I say tail?). If you want to learn more about and how you can turn on your telomerase, go to Dr. Al Sears website at: http://www.alsearsmd.com/

Although I don’t (ever notice how close don’t is to doughnut? If you pronounce the apostrophe with an ‘uh’ sound…it’s spot on!) necessarily endorse what he says, he’s a medical doctor, I’m not and I think it is important to keep an open, enquiring mind.

See ya, eh!

Bob