Perhaps, though the following is little more than theoret-
ical, and the actual impact it would have on humans, if
approved for anti-aging purposes, has not been scien-
tifically proven as of yet:
---
Jan. 13, 2005
http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050110/full/050110-16.html
---
Excerpt:
Treatments lengthen worm lives, but proving human effect
will be tricky.
A group of drugs already approved for humans can prolong
the lifespan of worms. So, will these medicines be sought
after by those seeking eternal youth?
Researchers have long been trying to find drugs or elixirs
that can stave off ageing. But they have met with little suc-
cess, partly because it is laborious and time-consuming to
show that a drug adds years to our lives.
To get around this problem, Kerry Kornfeld of Washington
University in St Louis, Missouri, and his team tested drugs
on a tiny, short-lived worm called Caenorhabditis elegans.
Researchers have shown before that tweaking certain
genes can prolong this worm's life.
The team split the worms into groups and doped their food
with 19 prescription medicines, from steroids to diuretics to
anti-inflammatory drugs. "We went through a pharmaceutical
textbook and picked a drug from each class," Kornfeld says.
Most of the drugs had no effect, or even killed the worms at
high doses. But an anticonvulsant used to fight epilepsy, and
two other similar compounds, lengthened the animals' lives
by as much as 50%. Normal signs of ageing were also de-
layed in the animals.
There is no proof that these drugs will extend lifespan in
people. But Kornfeld says it is possible, because the genes
and molecules that control the ageing process in worms gen-
erally exist in mammals too.
...
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~~~
Pro-Humanist FREELOVER
http://fire.prohosting.com/prohuman
(Freethinking Realist Exploring
Expressive Liberty, Openness,
Verity, Enlightenment, & Rationality)
~~~
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