Scientific progress is always more impressive the more time passes, so that some already see themselves escaping death indefinitely and staying healthy thanks to science. “A delirium worthy of science fiction”, we would have thought a few years ago. But recently published work suggests that failing to live forever we could rejuvenate the cells of our body by several decades!
The fantasy of eternal youth
Eternal life, a youth that never ends… Death is scary and for some, all means are good to try to grab a few extra years healthy life, despite the decline of our planet. After all, it’s human. But it is true that the idea is quite frightening, especially for people who do not believe in the existence of life after death. For them, it is therefore towards science that we must turn.
Being able to live longer and longer is good. But this is to spend half your life being senile or not being able to do anything, it’s immediately less engaging. That is why, more than allowing a long life, scientists are looking into the question of rejuvenating our bodies. A field studied for decades, but which has just taken an important step in this year 2022.
Work carried out by researchers at the British Babraham Institute and published in the journal eLife reveals to us that the cells of a 53-year-old woman could be rejuvenated by 30 years! A feat that opens up great prospects for the future.
The work carried out by the Babraham Institute
Now that we’ve said that, you probably want us to explain to you how rejuvenating cells like this is possible. Since the 90s, scientists have been able to transform normal cells into stem cells, able to self-regenerate and multiply, thanks to regenerative biology and a method of genetic reprogramming. On the other hand, it was impossible, until now, to turn these stem cells into specialized cells, both capable of being rejuvenated and retaining their specificities acquired with age.
The process of genetic reprogramming was therefore possible but limited. But the secret of success actually lies in the duration of it, which until then lasted 50 days. However, researchers at the Babraham Institute have decided to stop it earlier, after only 13 days. The interest? After two short weeks, the modifications caused by the age of the cells disappear, but not the integrated molecules allowing their specialization. The scientists therefore reprogrammed the cells so that they corresponded to that of a 23-year-old individual, 30 years younger than the organism from which they came.
If this could therefore allow an individual to maintain a younger appearance for longer, in the long term, it is a much greater use that could be made of this regenerative biology. Researchers are already planning to use it to close wounds more quickly or to develop drugs capable of combating diseases linked to old age. The most optimistic among them already imagine fight directly against the aging process of the body.
