A groundbreaking discovery in cellular biology could help humans age without as much deterioration in their bodies.
A research team experimenting on a class of genes called "splicing factors" was able to take older human cells and physically rejuvenate them, turning back the clock to make them appear and behave young again.
"When I saw some of the cells in the culture dish rejuvenating I couldn't believe it.
These old cells were looking like young cells. It was like magic," Eva Latorre, the research associate at the University of Exeter who conducted the experiments, told Medical Xpress. "I repeated the experiments several times and in each case the cells rejuvenated. I am very excited by the implications and potential for this research."
When human cells grow old, they become inactive. The splicing factors that "switch off" in old age can actually be switched back on by applying chemical compounds called reversatrol analogues.
Within just a few hours of the application, the splicing factors started to rejuvenate, dividing themselves the way young cells do.
Their telomeres, cap-like features on chromosomes which grow shorter and shorter as we age, became long again. A paper detailing the research was published in the journal BMC Cell Biology.
