Roundworms helped discover a new mechanism for prolonging youth

Aging can be seen as natural.a process or as a logical development of an organism during its life cycle. However, mankind throughout its history has tried to find a “cure for eternal youth” or at least to delay (as much as possible) the onset of old age. And, quite likely, the answer all this time was, one might say, "under our feet." Indeed, recently a group of researchers from the University of Michigan discovered a special substance in roundworms that prevents the aging of the body.

As you know, roundworms (nematodes) areone of the most numerous species on our planet. They have a very different size and live in soil, as well as fresh and marine waters, where their number can exceed 1 million individuals per 1 cubic meter.

Studying one of the species of these animals, namely C. elegans, scientists have discovered, one might say, an "aging molecule." Initially, experts from the University of Michigan studied age-related changes in worm motility. It turned out that in the middle of the life cycle in animals there is a decline in motor activity. On average, C. elegans live for about 21 days, and somewhere in the 10-11 day there was a change in behavior. Scientists decided to find out the cause of these violations.

Experts began to analyze the relationship of motorneurons with muscle activity. It turned out that their interaction disrupts the molecule SLO-1. With its presence, there is a decline in activity and a gradual extinction of motor functions. Accordingly, the more SLO-1, the less activity.

Next, the experts decided to try to blockthis molecule. To do this, they used 2 methods of blocking (looking ahead, let's say that both were successful). The first is the most "radical". Blocking a molecule at the genetic level by editing the genome. The second is the effect on the "path" of the interaction of the molecule. Using paxillin, scientists blocked the potassium channels involved in the release of SLO-1.

Moreover, the lifespan of the subjectsgroups increased compared to the control. Well, the most interesting thing is that the discovery concerns not only nematodes, since there is a similar molecule in the body of other creatures (including mammals).

Incidentally, it has been proven that in order to preserve the “youth of the mind” one must always learn something new. Our newsroom is perfect for this. Telegram channel.