People all over the world yearn to somehow revitalize themselves and take their years back. Although researchers haven’t discovered a way for humans, they have for rats by successfully revitalizing their stem cells to reverse old and dying cells into young and healthy ones. As all bodies age, various joints and muscles can become stiff. Similarly, the brain can get old and stiff as time passes. In order to figure out how to reverse the aging in humans, researchers have studied young and old rat brains to understand the effect of brain stiffening on stem cells in the brain.
These stem cells are oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) that are important for maintaining normal brain function, but the function of these stem cells declines with age. In order to figure out whether the stem cells could be rejuvenated, researchers put them into the brains of younger animals resulting in these older stem cells to behave and match the function of the young, healthy, and more vigorous stem cells.
Stem Cells in Rats
The effect of age-related brain cell deterioration on the OPCs was studied by a group of researchers from the University of Cambridge. These OPCs essentially support regular functions related to the brain and the process in which myelin is regenerated. One important issue the researchers considered was the eventual effects on Multiple Sclerosis (MS). In order to identify the deterioration of brain functioning due to aged OPCs, the researched placed old OPCs from old rats into the brains of younger animals. The research was done in a controlled environment and the researchers had developed materials in the lab that were relatively similar in terms of the softness of the brains.
In order to fully understand the effects of brain softness on OPC behavior, the researchers explored Piezo 1, a protein that indicates to the cell about the stiffness or softness of the environment. They noticed a rejuvenation effect when the aged brain cells were grown on the soft material; they found the cells to work like young ones. When the protein was removed, the researchers noticed that cells were tricked into thinking the environment was soft.
The damages enacted by multiple sclerosis are disabling, relentless, and agonizing. The development of a countermeasure is detrimental, and such research on the possible reversal of aging influence leads to critical future protocol. The theorized implications are drastic and fruitful, and with the focus established upon the issues inflicted on the brain from MS and aging, regaining lost brain function seems all too conceivable.
“Scientists Reverse Aging Process in Rat Brain Stem Cells.” ScienceDaily, ScienceDaily, 14 Aug. 2019, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190814130726.html.
