Researchers here explore age-related changes that take place in the innate immune cells known as macrophages, as well as the precursor circulating cell type known as monocytes. Macrophages undertake a wide range of tasks, not just responsible for chasing down infectious pathogens, but also clearing molecular waste and cell debris, destroying problematic cells, and helping to coordinate regenerative processes following injury. Altered macrophage behavior is implicated in a range of age-related diseases, and this is also the case for changes that take place in the analogous cell population of mi ..read more

The practice of calorie restriction, intermittent fasting, and related strategies such the fasting mimicking diet are thought to produce benefits largely through increased or more efficient operation of the cellular maintenance process of autophagy. The various forms of autophagy work to remove damaged molecules and structures in the cell, and better cell function maintained over time throughout the body is expected to result in slowed aging. Certainly a great many of the approaches shown to slow aging in short-lived species are characterized by improved autophagy, and influence the same regul ..read more

This messy popular science article is an essay length expression of futility on the part of a journalist who accepts that he is not equipped to understand the field of aging research and the longevity industry that has arisen in the past decade. One can talk to the talking heads, but they will all say something different. One can look for proof of efficacy for specific approaches, and find only contradictory data, or only compelling animal data, or only small effect sizes, and a lack of the sort of certainty that arises from large human trials. Those trials are still in the future for near eve ..read more

The evidence for transfusion of young plasma to produce benefits in old animals and human patients is mixed. Despite compelling demonstrations for the dilution of blood to produce benefits in older individuals, there remain many research groups who consider that the primary goal should be the identification of factors within young blood that can produce improvements to health. Inconveniently for those who argue for the primacy of dilution in producing the benefits of plasma transfusion, there are studies such as this one in which factors derived from young plasma do in fact improve health sign ..read more

You might compare the LEV Foundation's Rodent Aging Interventions Database with the DrugAge database, both emerging from the efforts of researchers who found themselves frequently reviewing the existing literature on age-slowing interventions in animal models. One of the things to bear in mind about the existing literature is that rodent studies that show an apparent modest slowing of aging frequently fail to replicate when later investors take a more rigorous approach, with larger numbers of mice. The history of the NIA Interventions Testing Program is largely a repeated demonstration of this ..read more

A variety of approaches show some promise in improving the function of stem cells in aged tissues. Stem cell populations support their tissue by providing a supply of daughter somatic cells to replace losses. This supply diminishes over time as stem cells reduce their activity for reasons that descend from the known root causes of aging, but which are not fully understood in detail. To the degree that reduced stem cell function is a response to the aged environment rather than a consequence of damage inherent to these cells, then it is useful to find ways to force stem cells to be more active ..read more

In recent years, researchers have been putting more effect into analyses of the CALERIE 2 study of human calorie restriction. The study took place some years ago, but new results continue to be published. Here, researchers show that effects on telomere length and a related aging clock are inconclusive. Telomere length measured in the white blood cells of a blood sample is not a great measure of aging. It is highly variable between individuals, is influenced day to day changes in immune status, and it takes a fairly large study group for age-related trends to show up. It has rightfully been ecl ..read more

Researchers here report on the results of transfusion of young rat plasma into old rats, starting every other week in later life. The study is small, and is one more data point to add to a mixed set of results. Plasma transfusion from young individual to old individual doesn't look that impressive, all told, either in animals or in human patients. That doesn't appear to be discouraging the community of researchers and developers who continue to work on approaches to transfusion that they believe may move the needle. The example here is a straightforward approach to transfusion, the procedure c ..read more

The research community has come to see chronic inflammation and other age-related immune system dysfunctions as an important aspect of neurodegenerative conditions. Inflammation in the short term is necessary for defense against pathogens and regeneration following injury. Unresolved, constant inflammation is harmful to tissue structure and function, however, changing cell behavior for the worse. In brain tissue, the effects of inflammatory signaling on the behavior of innate immune cells called microglia appears particularly important. Neurogenerative conditions are characterized by activated ..read more

Mitrix Bio is one of the companies developing the means to produce large amounts of mitochondria for transplantation. Cells will take up new mitochondria from the surrounding environment, and mitochondria can be harvested from cell cultures. Mitochondrial function declines with age, the result of (a) gene expression changes in the cell nucleus that alter mitochondrial dynamics and the quality control process of mitophagy, and (b) damage to mitochondrial DNA. Evidence from animal studies suggests that replacing mitochondria in aged tissues produces benefits to health and organ function that las ..read more