"Skulachev's Ions" were left without funding?
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The article begins "for health", but the last paragraph suggests sad thoughts...
Does eternal youth exist?Evgenia Dorogova, "Living Systems", for STRF.ru
Academician Skulachev's team continues to research an antioxidant that can potentially prolong youth.
How to preserve youth for many years is one of the main issues disturbing the minds of millions. Gerontology (the science that studies aging processes) is being studied by scientists from all over the world, and it's nice to realize that Russian specialists have reached special heights in this field. Academician Vladimir Petrovich Skulachev made a report on the development of a means to combat aging on February 4. The speech was made as part of an open lecture by a scientist at the V. A. Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IMB RAS).
"Is there a way to end such a disgusting stage of human development as senility? – said Vladimir Petrovich. "I don't promise immortality, but I can say that we have achieved some success in this area." And he read a report that did not leave even the most skeptical listeners indifferent.
An international team of specialists led by Skulachev has been working on the problem of finding an anti-aging remedy for many years. In the course of a series of studies, scientists have managed to create a molecule that blocks toxic forms of oxygen that accumulate in the body and possibly lead to aging. Experiments on mice and rats have confirmed that if the right concentration of these molecules is injected into the body, the animal retains youth, health and reproductive functions longer.
Why are we getting old? In science, it is often believed that the possible reason for this is the accumulation of oxygen free radicals. It is known that they are the cause of multiple breakdowns in a variety of cell structures. Oxygen free radicals (ions of an oxygen molecule with an unpaired electron), according to Skulachev, are "a terrible poison" that oxidizes everything in its path. Radicals are formed in the mitochondria of the cell. These organelles have their own mechanisms for neutralizing radicals, but they are imperfect, and the concentration of deadly ions is gradually increasing. Skulachev's team has developed a new class of compounds capable of stopping the destructive effect of free radicals. The molecule was named SkQ. Unlike the previously existing antioxidants, it works really successfully, purposefully penetrating into the inner membrane of the mitochondria and not having a toxic effect on the liver.
Scientists have done a great job of testing the effect of SkQ on a living organism. The effect of the "magic molecule" was compared with other antioxidants, its optimal concentration was found and tested on different types of animals. The success of the tests is staggering! As it turned out, SkQ injected into the animal's body slows down up to 20 signs of aging, reduces the rate of apoptosis (programmed cell death), weakens the effects of stroke, improves vision.
For a long time, research led by Skulachev was conducted with the financial support of businessman Oleg Deripaska. Now, according to the academician, new material means are needed to conduct further tests. Whether a stable working means of "eternal youth" will be created as a result, as the scientist admitted, is still unknown. But the SkQ tests will continue, and perhaps new discoveries in this area will be made soon.
Portal "Eternal youth" www.vechnayamolodost.ru
05.02.2009