Rejuvenation and prolongation of life by ovarian transplantation?
Mice will help women live longerIvan Panin, Infox.ru
Ovarian transplantation from a young mouse to an old one allows not only to restore fertility, but also to prolong life by more than 40%.
The behavior of the animal changes at the same time, it demonstrates habits characteristic of a young individual. Scientists wondered if it was possible to give youth and a long life to women in this way.
Noriko Kagawa from the Kato Women's Clinic in Tokyo and her colleagues conducted two experiments on laboratory mice, whose average life expectancy is 548 days, and the reproductive age ends approximately on the 525th day of life. In young females, whose age was about 140 days, the ovaries were removed and transplanted to six mice older than 525 days, who had already lost the ability to conceive. In the second experiment, eight animals at least 540 days old were transplanted one ovary from 170-day-old individuals.
All mice that received new ovaries had a normal reproductive cycle restored. In the first case, fertility was restored for more than 80 days, in the second – it exceeded 130 days. "In both experiments, all the transplanted mice returned to normal sexual behavior of the young individual. They showed interest in males, mated, some had offspring," Kagawa said. She noted that usually elderly mice lose activity, but after ovarian transplantation, their movements became fast again.
Not only the sexual behavior of experimental animals and fertility changed, but also life expectancy. Those who received two ovaries lived an average of 915 days. Individuals with one transplanted ovary died approximately on the 877th day of life. Compared with mice from the control group, the average life expectancy increased by 40%.
Kagawa notes that their scientific group does not know why life expectancy increased. But it suggests that the young ovaries restored normal hormonal levels.
Will women live longer?Ovarian transplantation is also done for women.
For example, in preparation for chemotherapy for a cancerous tumor, part of the ovarian tissue is removed and frozen. The patient is undergoing a treatment course, but menopause often occurs. Then the removed part of the organ is returned to the woman. As practice shows, as a result, not only the menstrual cycle is restored, but also the ability to have children returns.
"However, a completely unexpected additional positive property of procedures allowing to preserve fertility in the mouse has been discovered. Perhaps something like this can prolong a woman's life," the researchers believe. If you freeze the ovarian tissues of a young woman and return them to her after a certain number of years, then life expectancy should increase, if the analogy with mice is true.
Kagawa notes that not many women have received ovarian transplants yet. No studies have been conducted to find out whether the transplant had a rejuvenating effect. And in the coming years, this will also not become known, since the aging processes in humans need to be observed much longer than in mice.
Ovarian transplantation for women undergoing cancer treatment is gradually becoming more and more a standard procedure. According to Kagawa, doctors are simply obliged to try to keep patients able to have children even after a course of chemotherapy or other treatment leading to infertility.
The results of the study are presented at the 26th Annual Meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Rome.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru01.07.2010