Inflammation is a natural process of the bodies immune system, it is completely normal for the body to respond to infection or tissue damage with swelling. However, chronic inflammation can be a hazard to the body, such as arthritis, or celiac disease. Having inflammation for long periods of time can destroy tissues and cause premature aging. With this information it makes sense that having a gene that codes against inflammation would cause you to live longer. The issue that arose in this research is that they have yet to find out if this gene is linked to a longer life, or if mammals would develop more of this gene because they were living longer. There is still research to be done on this topic but I believe that these scientists are on the right track.
Article: A Longer Life May Lie in Number of Anti-Inflammatory Genes
Article 2: More Anti-inflammatory Genes Mean Longer Lifespans for Mammals
This is an interesting topic, there are other issues that could arise from having a longer life span. Overpopulation is already a big problem, having people live longer would most likely take a huge hit to everyone's quality of life.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting topic, there are other issues that could arise from having a longer life span. Overpopulation is already a big problem, having people live longer would most likely take a huge hit to everyone's quality of life.
ReplyDeleteThis is certainly an interesting study. Inflammation in excess can be highly damaging and cause many issues that may lead to an early death. If this gene turns out to be able to control inflammation levels it would be of great use to the medical community.
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