IS A DIABETES DRUG THE ANSWER TO AGEING? METFORMIN SHOWN TO DELAY AGEING IN MALE MONKEYS

A new study has found that an inexpensive diabetes drug, Metformin, slowed ageing in male monkeys, especially in their brain. This discovery suggests that the medication might eventually be used to slow the aging process in humans.

The study, titled ‘Metformin decelerates aging clock in male monkeys’, was published in journal Cell on September 12. A total of 43 researchers from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, and other universities were a part of the study.

The study revealed that monkeys given daily doses of metformin displayed neuronal activity—the continuous electrical currents and brain transmissions—similar to that of monkeys six years younger.

The study

The researchers administered metformin to 12 elderly male cynomolgus macaques (Macaca fascicularis), while another group of 16 elderly monkeys and 18 young or middle-aged animals served as the control group.

The treated monkeys were given a daily dose of metformin, equivalent to the standard amount used for treating diabetes in humans, over a period of 40 months. During the study, researchers collected samples from 79 different types of tissues and organs, conducted brain imaging, and performed routine physical exams, as reported by the journal Nature.

They analysed cellular activity in the samples and developed a computational model to estimate the tissues’ “biological age,” which, according to the report, can either be younger or older than the monkeys’ chronological age.

The researchers discovered that metformin slowed the biological aging of various tissues, including those from the lungs, kidneys, liver, skin, and the brain’s frontal lobe. Additionally, the drug reduced chronic inflammation, a major indicator of aging.

The study also found that metformin safeguards the brain by activating a protein named NRF2, which helps prevent cellular damage from injury and inflammation.

Alex Soukas, a molecular geneticist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, described the study to Nature as the “most quantitative, thorough examination of metformin action that I’ve seen beyond mice”.

2024-09-18T15:52:41Z dg43tfdfdgfd