According to new research performed on mice, injecting young cells into an aging body could help people live longer and healthier lives.
Published this week in the journal Nature Communications, the data details amazing results from a study conducted by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Mice were genetically altered by the scientists in order to make them age much faster than normal. They became weak and old in a matter of 17 days. Stem cell-like cells were taken from the muscle tissue of healthy, young mice and injected into the aging mice.
This procedure essentially turned back the hands of time; the aging process was reversed. The aging mice were only expected to live up to 28 days but instead lived three times longer, past 66 days. The mice had improved muscle strength, blood flow to the brain and were healthier than they were prior to the injection.
Dr. Laura Niedernhofer, an author of this study, states, “The young stem cells seem to secrete something that is quite beneficial. Just what that is, we’re not entirely sure.”
Further research is required in order to uncover what that “something” is. Currently, studies are underway on humans being treated with muscle cells. Dr. Niedernhofer reports, “The beauty of them is we can take them out of muscle and expand them so we have a useful therapeutic population of cells, If all of us could be treated with our own cells, we could eliminate problems with rejection and immunity.”
The results certainly sound promising but scientists warn that caution must be exercised, as we cannot necessarily translate these findings to natural human aging.
There has been much marketing and hype about a facelifting procedure called the Stem Cell Facelift. This is essentially a Fat Grafting procedure. Stem cells are present in fat but there is no proven scientific finding to back up claims that stem cells are responsible for reversing facial aging. Current studies on humans are being conducted using stem cells from muscle tissue, not fat, and this is starting to shows tremendous promise with regards to treating disease and illness.
