Stay Young! A Drug to Delay Ageing Discovered

A new drug has been developed that can delay ageing. Researchers, including one of Indian origin, have successfully developed this drug. It is demonstrated by declining muscle mass, strength and function.  

When human bodies age, they increasingly lose the ability to repair and rebuild degenerating skeletal muscles. It can also limit the ability of older adults to live fully active and independent lives. 

Researchers from the University Of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) at Galveston has studied and identified a protein called Nicotinamide N-methyltransferase (NNMT) in muscle stem cells which are responsible for the age-related dysfunction. 

They developed a small molecule drug, NNMT inhibitor (NNMTi), which when prescribed to aged mice could limit NNMT's effects and increase muscle size, strength and metabolic state in the animals. 

The researchers explained that mice could be rejuvenated by resetting muscle stem cells to a more youthful state, so that they could more effectively repair muscle tissues. 

Harshini Neelakantan, a research scientist at UTMB said, "There are no treatments currently available to delay, arrest or reverse age-related muscle degeneration."  

She further added, "These initial results support the development of an innovative drug treatment. It has the potential to help the elderly to become fitter, faster and stronger. Hence, it enables them to live more active and independent lives as they age."  

It will be interesting to know that for the study, published in Biochemical Pharmacology, the team treated ageing mice, suffering from muscle injury, with the drug or a placebo. 

Merely, in seven days of treatment, researchers saw that the aged mice, which received the drug, had more functional muscle stem cells than the placebo mice. 

Also the size of the muscle fibres doubled and the strength also increased significantly. Even the blood chemistry of the mice that underwent drug treatment was also found to have no adverse effects as it was similar to the untreated mice.