Can Aging Be Slowed by Intervening in Brain Stem Cells?

According to research by the Albert Einstein School of Pharmacy published in Nature , stem cells in the brain's hypothalamus may be one factor determining aging speed. Findings in mice are being used to open the way toward treating age-related diseases.

The hypothalamus regulates growth, development, renewal and metabolism. A previous study in 2013 found hypothalamic neural stem cells played a role in aging. These cells decreased with advancing age, suggesting their loss accelerated aging. Could producing new stem cells slow it?

Another study examined a healthy mouse's normal life cycle. In an adult mouse aged 10 months, during the few months when normal aging signs should begin, hypothalamus-produced stem cells declined and visible aging appeared. Researchers then asked whether aging depended solely on loss of these cells. They removed them from a middle-aged mouse before aging signs appeared and followed it. The mouse aged faster and died earlier than other experimental mice.

Conversely, could extra hypothalamic stem cells added to existing ones slow aging? Researchers added them to experimental mouse brains and found that aging slowed or the process was substantially reversed.

Dr. Chai and colleagues found hypothalamic stem cells in live experimental mice were effective against aging. They observed that stem cells used microRNAto prevent aging. MicroRNAs regulate gene activity. Hypothalamic stem cells send miRNAs into cerebrospinal fluid inside vesicles called exosomes.

Researchers injected miRNAs from a healthy young mouse into the hypothalamus of normal-adult and old-adult groups. In both groups, the particles delayed aging, improved muscle strength and coordination, supported socializing and increased endurance and cognitive abilities.

Researchers are now investigating these miRNAs, their associated stem cell systems and possible therapeutic uses, planning to test them in age-related disease treatment.