John Rubino is a former Wall Street financial analyst and author or co-author of five books, including The Money Bubble: What to Do Before It Pops and Clean Money: Picking Winners in the Green-Tech Boom. He founded the popular financial website DollarCollapse.com in 2004, sold it in 2022, and now publishes John Rubino’s Substack newsletter.
The Fountain of Youth might predate gold as humanity’s earliest obsession. But here we are, 10,000 years into the quest with little to show for it. Some common-sense lifestyle tweaks (stay slim, exercise, manage stress, don’t smoke) are worth maybe an extra decade of active life. But no magic bullet of any kind has emerged.
But the search continues. And hardly a week goes by without the release of yet another study in which a supplement or other intervention makes old mice young again. Virtually none of these treatments have made it to the local doctor’s office, however, leaving us (especially we boomers) staring down the barrel of inevitable, imminent decline.
Still — without getting unduly excited — longevity research is a subject worth following, just in case. Here’s an experiment that yielded interesting results:
(NAD Aging Science) – Chinese scientists have genetically engineered stem cells capable of rejuvenating the health, including the cognition, of aged macaques.
“Super stem cells” improve the memory of monkeys while protecting against neurodegeneration.
The super stem cells prevent age-related bone loss while rejuvenating over 50% of the 61 tissues analyzed.
Treatment with stem cells reduces inflammation and senescent cells (cells that accumulate to promote aging).
While small in number, our adult stem cells play a crucial role in regenerating our lost or damaged tissues, rebuilding our body cell by cell. However, with age, our bodies become riddled with inflammation, hardly providing an environment capable of keeping our stem cells healthy. Eventually, our stem cells lose their regenerative capacity, contributing to degenerative aging.
Fox, O, Three
Hydra are a genus of immortal beings that live forever in freshwater environments like lakes and ponds. What scientists have called “nothing but an active stem cell community,” Hydra can escape death by infinitely regenerating. Their stem cells can continuously proliferate and renew by producing FoxO, a protein they share with humans.
In humans, the FoxO protein, specifically the FoxO3 isoform, responds to cellular stress by binding to DNA and turning genes on and off. These genes are involved in numerous cellular processes that promote healthy aging and extended lifespan. This is why the FoxO3 protein’s corresponding gene, FOXO3, is considered a longevity gene.
Experimenting with SRCs
As FoxO3 assists cells in resisting stressful environments, such as inflamed tissue, Chinese Academy of Sciences researchers engineered human stem cells to have enhanced FoxO3 activity. As published in Cell, these senescence-resistant stem cells (SRCs) were designed to exhibit greater resistance to age-related stress. To test this, cynomolgus monkeys, also known as crab-eating macaques, were first stratified into four groups based on age. T
The oldest of the monkeys (approximately equivalent to 57-69 human years) were subdivided into three groups. One group was injected with saline (salt and water), another group with normal (wild-type, or WTC) stem cells, and the third with SRCs. The aged monkeys were injected every two weeks for 44 weeks, approximately equivalent to the duration of three human years. On safety, there were no serious adverse events, such as immune system rejection or tumor growth.
SRCs Improve Cognition
After 44 weeks of biweekly injections, a suite of biological indices was measured from the aged monkeys to assess whether SRCs slow down biological aging. One of these indices was memory retention. To assess memory, the researchers conducted a common experiment called the Wisconsin General Test Apparatus (WGTA).
For this experiment, each monkey was trained to retrieve food located outside of one of two identical boxes. During the test session, after each monkey was trained, food was placed next to one of the boxes to keep it hidden. Subsequently, a flap was placed in front of the monkey to block the boxes from view. Three seconds later, when the flap was reopened, each monkey had to remember which of the two boxes contained the food.
Remarkably, the monkeys injected with SRCs remembered the location of the food with higher accuracy than the monkeys injected with saline. Moreover, the monkeys injected with normal stem cells exhibited the same level of accuracy as the monkeys injected with saline. These findings suggest that SRCs, and not normal stem cells, improve the memory of aged monkeys.
Furthermore, MRI-based structural analysis showed that treatment with SRCs mitigated age-related brain shrinkage. MRI-based experiments also revealed that brain connectivity was restored to that of young (A1 group) monkeys. Namely, the structural connectivity between seven brain regions, including those important for working memory (prefrontal cortex), was rejuvenated with SRC treatment. Overall, these findings suggest that SRC injections improve memory by protecting against neurodegeneration.
SRCs Rejuvenate Many Organs and Tissues
In addition to the brain, the Academy researchers found that SRC treatment rejuvenated multiple organs and tissues. This is important because the rejuvenation of a given organ or tissue could lead to the reduced risk of its corresponding age-related chronic diseases. For example, the rejuvenating effects of SRCs on the brain could reduce the risk of neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.
One common age-related disease is osteoporosis, characterized by brittle and weak bones that make patients more prone to fractures and deadly falls. Using an X-ray imaging technique called micro-CT, the researchers found evidence for the reversal of age-related bone loss. Namely, while the aged monkeys treated with saline exhibited dental bone loss, the aged monkeys treated with SRCs had teeth more similar to those of young monkeys.
To conduct a body-wide assessment, the researchers measured the up- and down-regulation of genes from 10 systems and 61 tissues. Elevations and reductions in gene activation reflect the function (or dysfunction) of cells, tissues, and organ systems. With that said, SRC treatment was shown to rejuvenate over 50% of the tissues examined, with maximal rejuvenation achieved in areas like the hippocampus (the memory consolidation center of the brain), fallopian tubes, and colon. In contrast, the regular stem cells rejuvenated about 30% of the tissues examined.
Confirming some of the rejuvenating effects inferred by the gene experiments, the researchers also observed structural changes to various organs and tissues from aged monkeys treated with SRCs. For example, the vascularity of the lung and heart was improved while the thickening of the aorta was reduced. Neurons had longer projections and fewer proteins associated with Alzheimer’s disease (e.g., beta-amyloid and phosphorylated-tau), and the kidney and brain showed less mineralization [abnormal mineral (usually calcium) deposits].
Interesting, But…
Combine “longevity breakthrough” with “Chinese researchers” and the result is, almost by definition, untrustworthy. But the fact that some animals like hydras and naked mole rats seem to be largely immune to senescence implies that the Fountain of Youth is out there waiting to be discovered.
Speaking for all Boomers everywhere, here’s hoping it happens soon.
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