Detox helps to keep mice livers young • 08.11.08
New York Deterioration of the liver can be prevented by improving the way it rids itself of toxins, scientists have found.
Mice given a double dose of a gene involved in the “detoxing” process had the livers of striplings, even when they reached the mouse equivalent of 80 years old. Although the technique used is impracticable for improving human health, it could point the way to drugs that would have the same effect.
As bodies age, their cells get less efficient at removing damaged protein, resulting in a build-up of toxic material that damages functioning. The process may underlie degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
Writing in Nature Medicine, Ana Maria Cuervo, of Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, said: “Our study showed that functions can be maintained in older animals so long as damaged proteins continue to be efficiently removed – strongly supporting the idea that protein build-up in cells plays an important role in ageing itself.”
