Researchers experimented on fruit flies and mice. Taking drugs thought to delay aging for a short period of time when you are younger may work better.
A new study suggests that short-term treatments administered in early adulthood may be the best way to extend overall lifespan.
The research, published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Nature Aging, focused on the drug “rapamycin”, which was discovered in a soil sample on Easter Island nearly 50 years ago and later used as an immunosuppressant to prevent organ rejection.
In the last 10 years, a growing number of studies have shown that rapamycin can also be used to prevent aging and prolong life span in worms, fruit flies and mice.
However, it was not possible to extrapolate these results to humans. Continuous use of the drug could have serious consequences by damaging the human immune system.
So a team from the Max Planck Institute for the Biology of Ageing in Germany wondered whether rapamycin could extend lifespan when used for shorter periods of time earlier in life.
“Using rapamycin in clinical doses can have unwanted side effects,” said team leader Paula Juricic. For the drug to be used against aging, these should be absent or minimal.”
That’s why we wanted to know when and how much to take to get the effect as if you were taking the drug for life.
The first experiments were conducted with a species of fruit fly commonly used in anti-aging research. The findings showed that giving the flies rapamycin for a short time in the first few days of life was effective in extending their lifespan.
On the other hand, flies given rapamycin later in life did not show any positive effects. This was interpreted as an important clue as to when to take the drug.
“Rapamycin memory is primarily activated in early adulthood,” said Thomas Leech, one of the study’s authors.
The researchers then experimented on mice to test the idea of “rapamycin memory” in mammals.
As mice age, the level of a protein called LBP rises in their bodies. This leads to poor gut health.
But when three-month-old mice were given rapamycin in the experiment, LBP levels remained low. This was indicative of the drug’s potential anti-aging effects.
According to the researchers, these findings mean that anti-aging drugs such as rapamycin may be more effective when administered for short periods at younger ages.
Most of the phenotypes associated with aging (the reflection of genetic and environmental factors in a person’s appearance) begin to accumulate in adulthood. Targeting this time window may therefore have the most effective long-term effects on lifespan.
However, rapamycin has not yet been tested in humans for this purpose. Further research is therefore needed to ensure that the drug can be used effectively and safely.
