Lab Chip: Older People's Serum Triggers Aging Signs in Four Days
Graded Preliminary — a lab experiment with stem cell-grown tissue on a chip over four days; without living people or animals, it is unclear how much applies inside the body.
Cell, tissue or computational study. Not evidence about people yet, which is why the grade is capped at Preliminary.
- Design
- Lab study
- Participants
- N/A
- Duration
- 1 week
- Funding
- US National Institute on Aging, NIDDK, US Department of Defense (CDMRP)
Serum from older people produced typical aging signs in fat and liver tissue on a lab chip within four days.
Human tissue ages over decades, and results from mice do not reliably carry over to people. So a team grew fat and liver tissue from human stem cells on a small lab chip. When the fat tissue received blood serum from older people for four days, it showed typical signs of aging. These included damage to the genetic material, inflammation signals and signs that insulin worked less well.
The serum came from donors over 62, compared with serum from donors aged 21 to 34. In the fat tissue, markers of aged cells that no longer divide went up. When the pretreated fat tissue was then linked to liver tissue, the liver showed aging signs too. Switching to young serum for four days lowered one such marker and raised markers of fat metabolism. Among the drugs tested, the researchers describe the hormone oxytocin, combined with diluted serum, as the most effective.
The chip is a simplification: it holds only fat and liver cells, not the many other cell types in real organs. The work does not show that these aging signs can be reversed in people.
Conflict of Interest Disclosure: One author is the founder and Chief Scientific Officer of the company Generation Lab; the authors state the research received no funding or input from the company.
Disclaimer: Research summaries are provided for informational purposes only and do not constitute medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to your health routine.