igf -1 könnte sogar ungesund sein
Texas researchers have found a naturally occurring hormone that can extend the lifespan of mice by as much as 30 percent, a discovery that opens a new avenue of research into human longevity.
The hormone has a drawback, however - it decreases fertility and increases susceptibility to diabetes, the team reported Thursday in the online edition of the journal Science.
The hormone - called Klotho after one of the Greek fates who controlled the length of human life - is produced in the brain and kidney in a variety of species, but leaks out into the blood stream.
Pathologist Dr. Makoto Kuro-o and his colleagues at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, who discovered the hormone, had previously reported that mice lacking the gene for Klotho begin showing signs of premature aging at around three to four weeks of age and die after about two months, compared to a normal mouse lifespan of two years.
The team genetically engineered mice to produce excess amounts of the hormone. They reported that the genetically engineered males lived 31 percent longer than normal males, while genetically engineered females lived 19 percent longer than their normal counterparts.
The team also found that the hormone produces its effect by increasing the body's resistance to insulin, a phenomenon that has previously been shown to correlate with extended lifespan.
Low-calorie diets that prolong life, for example, also increase insulin resistance.
But insulin resistance is also a symptom of diabetes - although the altered mice were not found to have unusually high levels of glucose in their blood, the primary symptom of the disease.
The hormone is also found in humans, and researchers are now beginning to look to see if long-lived people have above-average levels in their blood.
da igf -1 ja durch sport vermehrt ausgesendet wird, könnte sport schädlich sein
mfg