From: Ramez Naam (mez@apexnano.com)
Date: Thu Jul 03 2003 - 08:52:46 MDT
From: Kevin Freels [mailto:megaquark@hotmail.com]
> Here's an article that I thought would be interesting to
> everyone. It concerns some genes that make roundworms and
> mice live twice as long, and healthier, when altered.
The equivalent of the daf-2 gene in mice (a gene for the IGF-1
receptor) actually extends lifespan by about a third. And this
finding is a bit controversial, because it started with short-lived
mice.
Completely knocking out growth hormone in mice produces life extension
of up to 60%, but at the cost of dwarfism.
The longest lived mouse on record, GHRKO-11C, lived to just a week
short of 5 years, or about 66% longer than the normal max for his
breed. He was a calorically restricted growth hormone knockout mouse.
This is the equivalent of the longest lived human making it to age
200.
The combination of caloric restriction and knocking out growth hormone
extends /average/ lifespan in mice by about 75%. That's the
equivalent of the average american making it to age 130 or so.
However, some researchers caution that the longer lived the animal
species you start with, the smaller the impact of these age-slowing
techniques, so that they may have relatively small impact on very
long-lived creatures like humans.
cheers,
mez
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