The fabled fountain of youth is no longer confined to the realms of fantasy, with scientists claiming that anti-aging drugs that extend life and keep old bodies youthful are on the way.
Researchers from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, made the prediction after extending the life of mice by as much as 35 percent and delaying the onset of heart and kidney damage, cancer and even cataracts.
The treated mice reportedly looked healthier and were more active and inquisitive in old age, moreover.
According to the journal Nature, the effects were achieved by giving the animals a drug that cleared away old and worn out cells known as senescent cells.
As we age, our skin wrinkles, our hearing fades and our eyesight deteriorates, caused by a process known as senescence, which is the natural course of ageing.
Senescent cells no longer divide and multiply, which means they can’t make the new cells needed to help keep the body and its organs young. (Caribbean 360)
