A team of Israeli scientists successfully reversed the biological ageing process in humans for the first time.
To stop the DNA changers that are associated with ageing, scientists used hyperbaric oxygen chambers, and it looks to have worked.
The two key areas that are responsible for human ageing are telomeres (pictured below), which are protective lids at the end of chromosomes that shorten over time resulting in DNA damage, and senescent cells, which over time are unable to regrow.
These two areas were the focus of multiple anti-ageing trials carried out by researchers. The treatments that target telomeres and senescent cells are currently in development.
However, scientists from Tel Aviv University in Israel have now discovered what looks like the solution. Administering pure oxygen to older patients in a high-pressure chamber resulted in the telomeres becoming longer, and the number of senescent cells decreasing by 37%, allowing healthy cells to regrow in their place.
Professor Shai Efrati, who was involved in the study, told The Telegraph:
“Since telomere shortening is considered the ‘Holy Grail’ of the biology of ageing, many pharmacological and environmental interventions are being extensively explored in the hopes of enabling telomere elongation.”
The trial saw a group of adults aged 64 and older individually placed in a hyperbaric chamber, where they breathed 100% oxygen through a mask. The patients spent 90 minutes in the chamber, five days a week, for three months.
The telomeres grew back to the length they were 25 years previously as a result of the treatment. This suggests it really is possible to rewind time and return to a more youthful state.
Will we see the day when living til 100 is the norm rather than a landmark achievement? Maybe, but before anyone can get their hands on an age reversing treatment, there’s a few factors that speed up the telomere shortening process to watch out for: obesity, smoking, inactivity and vitamin deficiency.
If you want to know another mad research breakthrough, these scientists have discovered water on a different planet!
