From: Damien Broderick (thespike@earthlink.net)
Date: Fri Jan 17 2003 - 12:06:23 MST
On another list I read:
In the recent presentation by Steve Austad at Kass' bioethics commission
meeting, he presented information on new research in which someone has been
able to increase the lifespan of mice by 50% through a new mitrochondrial
antioxidant gene manipulation (see quote below):
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S. Austad Talk at Commission on Bioethics
Let me just give one unpublished example of a gene that I think is the sort
of thing that we're going to see more and more of. This is one of the few
genes, like I say, they're just a handful and increased longevity comes from
an enhancement of a normal gene product, so this is a mouse that's been
genetically engineered to over-produce a cellular anti-oxidant. Anti-oxidant
called catalase. What makes it unique is that it's been directed. It usually
is active in one part of the cell, it's been redirected to another part of
the cell, this part of the cell that produces most of the oxygen radicals.
And when you do that, we now have the first mammal ever where increased
anti-oxidant activity increases longevity. There haven't been a lot of
functional studies. We don't know if it's just longevity, or if it's a
generalized retardation of aging, but we do know from looking at the animals
that died, that the sorts of normal mouse heart pathology has decreased in
these animals.
DR. FOSTER: Just one quick technical question. In the unpublished experiment
on the catalase activation and the expression other than its normal
expression, was that to move it into mitochondria for the electron
transport?
DR. AUSTAD: Yes.
=======
`What wrong with you apes? You wanna live forever?'
SARGE SMITH
`YES, PLEASE!!'
Damien Broderick
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