In four years we may live to be 120

Medicines based on antioxidant substances may extend human life * Life expectancy in the West is increasing * Researchers are looking for the limit of the human body's ability to survive

The maximum life expectancy of a person in the developed countries - will be extended. In a few years, it will not be rare to meet healthy people, 110 years old, claims a new study published by researchers from the University of Berkeley in California. The head of the research team, Prof. John Wilmoth said that the model he tested was made only in Sweden, but it actually serves as a representative model for all industrialized countries in the world.

The researchers noted that it is now clear that human lifespan is not a biological problem. It involves continuous improvements in the environmental conditions in which man lives, a higher level of sanitation, constant improvements in the level of health services and medical innovations.

In 1860 the oldest man in Sweden was 100 years old. In 1960 he was already 105 years old and this year - 108 years old.

In 1997, the death of the person who was crowned "the oldest in the Western world" was reported - it was a French woman named Jean Kalman. She was 122 years old at the time. The American researchers believe that today there are more people in the world who have already passed this "ceiling age". (Due to problems with accurate registration, the authors of the study do not consider data from Georgia and the Caucasus on people who are presented by the authorities there as 140 years old).

Prof. Wilmoth pointed out that until now it was common to think that there is an upper limit to a person's lifespan, because tissues and organs in the body wear out and wear out over the years. Now it may be necessary to introduce changes in the theory dealing with human lifespan, the American researcher emphasized.

On Friday, a study was published in the scientific journal Science, the results of which constitute a significant scientific breakthrough. For the first time, researchers were able to increase the lifespan of an animal using a drug.

Scientists from the Buck Institute for the Study of Aging in Navato, California, extended the lives of laboratory worms by 50% and now they promise that in the future - in at least four years - there will be drugs that will also increase the lifespan of humans to 120 years. In this way, the researchers also hope to prevent phenomena related to aging such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and stroke.

One of the founders of the Buck Institute, Simon Malov, says that the findings of the experiments on the microscopic worms (nematodes) are relevant because many of the basic biological processes that occur in more complex species, as well as in humans, also occur in nematodes - even though they are considered inferior animals.
"The worm is excellent for establishing the idea," Malov explains, "then this information is used in follow-up studies on all kinds of more complex animals, mice for example."

Indeed, Libya has now begun to study laboratory mice, and the initial results show that the drugs allow the mice to live much longer lives. According to him, when the research on the mice is completed, we will know how effective the drug is for increasing the lifespan of mammals.
Malov is not ready to speculate when the experiments on mice will end, and only says that "continuing studies on more complex productions in the near future will allow us to answer the question, whether we should reconsider aging as an inevitable thing."

According to the theory behind the research, synthetic enzymes produced in the laboratory can mimic the action of natural antioxidants (antioxidants), which exist in living organisms, and whose role is to delay and prevent aging.
Malov and other researchers say that oxidation in biological processes appears to create stress. In fact, it is this pressure that is a significant factor in determining the rate of aging. Their research shows that - at least in nematodes - using drugs it is possible to delay the oxidative stress and its effect on life span.

During the experiments some of the adult nematodes were treated with synthetic catalytic scavengers (SCS). According to Malov, nematodes treated with SCS substances had a 50% longer lifespan than nematodes that were not treated with the same substances. In addition, the researchers found that mutant nematodes—nematodes that underwent a mutation that caused oxidative stress to shorten their life span much more than normal—enjoyed a normal life span after being treated with SCS.

SCS substances are artificial versions of the natural enzymes superoxide dismutase and catalase - related to regulating the same oxidative stress. In the aging process, the production of these natural enzymes in the body decreases, and this causes tissue stress and the release of toxic chemical by-products that may cause irreversible cell damage that even leads to Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and stroke.

Bernard Malfroy, chairman of the pharmaceutical company "Ukron" which developed the new drug together with the Buck Institute, says that the clinical tests of the drugs will begin in 2001, when SCS substances will be used to treat people who have had a stroke. Only in 2002 will the drug be tested on adults with Alzheimer's disease. According to him, on the face of it the purpose of the clinical tests is to investigate the healing power of the drugs, but at the same time the researchers will gain valuable information about the aging process, and the ways to delay it.
{Appeared in Haaretz newspaper, 3/9/2000{

May we have a long life
Researchers were able to increase the life span of worms that received synthetic enzymes that reduce the oxidative stress in their bodies
By Marit Selvin
For many years scientists have been discussing the question of why we age. In the last ten years, the "theory of free radicals and aging" has been accepted, which provides the most convincing explanation for the degenerative changes that occur in the body and accompany aging. According to this theory, those who are largely responsible for longevity and aging are substances with strong oxidizing activity, some of which are called free radicals. These substances are created during metabolism in the body and they cause damage to cells, tissues and genetic material.

The relationship between the body's metabolism and life expectancy has been studied for many years. It is known that animals with a high metabolic rate have a relatively short lifespan. But it turns out that this theory, called "live old and die young", is not true in all cases. For example, bats and mice have a similar metabolic rate, but the life span of bats is ten times longer than that of mice, and many animals (birds for example) have a much faster metabolic rate than would be expected from their life span.

This raises another question. Could a decrease in metabolic rate (which means less oxidants) affect lifespan? Animal studies have shown that a considerable restriction in the amount of food, which causes a significant decrease in the rate of metabolism, leads to an extension of life expectancy. Exposure to substances with a high oxidation potential, it turned out, is also associated with the shortening of the regions at the ends of the chromosomes (telomeres), the length of which indicates the lifespan of the organism (with each cell division, the telomeres shorten, and it is their length that determines the lifespan of the cell).

But not all substances with strong oxidizing activity are harmful. Some of them, it turns out, are essential to the processes of life. Certain substances are used by the white blood cells in their war against infectious agents, others are involved in the regulation of blood pressure and some believe that these substances are also involved in the regulation of the rate of metabolism itself. Therefore, a delicate balance of those oxidizing substances in the body is necessary, to prevent their destructive action when they are in excess.

The body contains enzymes that neutralize the action of oxidizing substances. The two main ones are called catalase and SOD. The genes responsible for the creation of the enzymes have preserved their structure during evolution, and they work in the same way in single-celled organisms and in higher organisms. Genes that are preserved during evolution are those that are essential for the survival of the organism. Indeed, studies have shown that laboratory mice that lack the SOD enzyme die in the first week of their lives.

The delicate balance between the destructive action of the oxidizing substances and the enzymes that contradict their action allows creatures to lead a normal course of life. When there is an increase in the level of oxidizing substances, oxidative stress is created and the oxidation of biologically active molecules, such as proteins and DNA, is increased. Aging, it is believed today, is caused by the decreased ability of the body to respond to oxidative stress.

Is there indeed a connection between the substances with high oxidative activity and aging, and is it possible to slow down aging by increasing the activity of the contradictory enzymes? A group of researchers from several research institutions in the US led by Simon Malov from the "Buck Institute for the Study of Aging" in California examined this question and came to a positive conclusion. Their research was published last month in the journal "Science".

"If the substances with strong oxidizing activity are the ones that contribute to aging, then it is possible to slow down the rate of aging by slowing down the creation of these substances or by sensing the creation of the repair and inhibition processes of the oxidizing substances," the researchers write. Indeed, genetic mutations and manipulations that gave the cells resistance against the action of the oxidizing agents increased life expectancy.

However, antioxidants and various food additives are very limited in their ability to extend life. The researchers decided to test the theory by developing synthetic enzymes, in order to reduce the oxidative stress, similar to the action of natural enzymes. The two synthetic substances developed mimic the action of the enzymes catalase and SOD in small worms called c.elegans. These worms are used by aging researchers because their body systems are relatively simple and their lifespan is about two and a half weeks, which makes it possible to get results quickly.

In one experimental system, the researchers added the two enzymes to normal worms and managed to increase their lifespan by 44%. In the second system, the researchers used worms with a genetic mutation, which causes rapid aging. The lifespan of these worms was 37% shorter than that of their normal sisters. When worms from the second group were treated with the synthetic enzymes, they managed to increase their lifespan by 67%.

At the end of the article, the researchers write: "We believe that the two synthetic enzymes we tested extend life span by increasing the natural antioxidant defense mechanisms, without causing any visible damage to other properties. These results indicate that oxidative stress is the main factor that determines the rate of aging."
{Appeared in Haaretz newspaper, 18/10/2000}

The worm and the tree of knowledge