Squeezing mouse bones extended their lives by about nine human years
Bones may release proteins that slow aging and extend life span
Researchers at Southern Medical University found that bones act as an active antiaging organ: mechanical strain on the skeleton prompts force-sensing osteocytes to release proteins that slow aging and extend life span. Deleting the force sensor PIEZO1 from middle-aged mice accelerated their decline and shortened their lives, while gently squeezing the leg bones of elderly mice twice a week for four months boosted their strength, reflexes, and memory, and added nearly three months of life. A PIEZO1-activating drug and the protein PEDF mimicked the effect. Human trials remain untested.
Bone is not just a passive scaffold; it is an active, mechanically responsive organ that helps set the pace of aging throughout the body.
- amosj
We just need more bones! It was easy all along
- armcat
> the findings are not “a demonstration of a new antiaging treatment for people,”
Regardless, every other study shows only positives of lifting and regular exercise, so just do it!
- thisisauserid
Soon we will have the technology to become mice and take advantage of the infinite wonders of these discoveries.
- PowerElectronix
It's always nice to get a new data point confirming that exercise and lifting is good your you, even better if it's through a new mechanism like this one.
- Qem
It's said cats purr to strenghten their bones. Perhaps the mechanism is related. It would be interesting to see if besides exercise, vibration can trigger it in humans as well, perhaps checking people that worked with pneumatic hammers or other vibration exposed workplaces.
- le-mark
I’m probably too old to see any benefit from the coming anti aging treatments and societal turmoil. I’m ok with that. Getting old does suck though. The proteins in question are piezo1 and pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF).
- Frieren
If this were a mechanism that appeared under some kind of evolutionary pressure. What would that be? In which situations a normal mammal find its bones squished (but not crushed)? Or is it just a side effect of something else going on?
- chamomeal
Thank you, bones