In a
new study, hypothalamus stem cells were observed, in young animals the cells divide
to produce replacements for dead and damaged cells. As mice grow older, the
number of the stem cells in the hypothalamus decrease until they’re all
theoretically gone. Researchers decreased the number of cells in mice by 70%,
and their lives were shortened by about 8%. The mice with the decreased number
of cells seemed less coordinated and less social compared to the control mice.
Researchers assume that the decrease in the
number of the stem cells causes organs to wear out gradually Stem cells were
injected into the hypothalamic into middle-aged animals to reverse the
deterioration, and the results were that the mice that received stem cells
outlived mice that were injected with a different type of brain cell by ~10%. Relative
to humans that could boost a few more years of healthy life.
Stem
cells manufacture microRNAs, and they’re the molecules which send messages to
different cells. The stem cells from the hypothalamus produce enormous amounts
of microRNAs in containers called exosomes. Mice injected with microRNA-rich
exosomes isolated from cultures of young hypothalamus stem cells slowed the
animals physical and cognitive breakdown. Protecting the hypothalamus’s stem cells
and replicating the effects of microRNAs could slow aging in humans.
