March 2020 Longevity Review

Posted by Chris Pollyanna , 12 April 2020 · 3,241 views

longevity review supplements rapamycin resveratrol crispr covid19 stem cells nad+ senolytics

Hello and welcome again to this month’s longevity review. Things have certainly changed since we last met - everyone's lives have been turned upside down and whatever plans we had for the year have been put into stasis. The longevity field is no exception: labs have shut, experiments cancelled, and conferences postponed. What medium term impact this will have is impossible to ascertain and pointless to even hazard a guess. However, the long term trajectory will be unaffected - regardless of the shape of the COVID curve, I still believe that ageing will have come under our control within the next twenty years, as the momentum which has built up is not easily derailed. In fact, impetus might be added with the realisation that COVID-19 would merely be a minor curiosity in an obscure virological journal if everyone had the immune system of a twenty-year-old and “pre-existing conditions” had been eradicated.

Although a lot of longevity research has come to a screeching halt, the time delay inherent in scientific publication ensures that there will still be a steady stream of discoveries being announced for the foreseeable future. I have added a COVID-19 section to the News Round-Up, to give a flavour of how the longevity field is pivoting to confront this menace, but bear in mind that the pace of research into COVID-19 means that it will be most likely out of date and it is not meant to provide any practical advice. For the latest in COVID-19 related research, check out LEAF’s COVID-19 THERAPEUTICS ROADMAP

Personally, I am fortunate for now at least to still have a job, though online teaching has proven to be more demanding and exhausting than I could possibly have imagined. Finding time for longevity research and advocacy is challenging.

Lastly, be thankful that we live in the year 2020, for the knowledge & capabilities of science has never been greater and speed at which COVID-19 will eventually be vanquished will have never been swifter.

Most of all - Stay Safe!

Follow me on Twitter @ChrisPollyanna1 for the latest updates.

Or you can find them on my longevity Facebook group, which I hope you will also join.

Finally – please post any comments in the comment section at the bottom - all feedback is greatly appreciated. :-D
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: I’ve been having trouble linking to the science journal hacking site www.sci-hub.tw , so am only including Full Text links to articles not behind a paywall. I still have been able to download most of them, so if there are any that you are after, I can send them upon request, or you can simply copy the paper’s URL into the site above to get +95% of papers hidden behind paywalls.

March Round-Up:

Reprogramming cells back into a youthful state is going to be the next big thing after senolytics in the longevity field, and the paper here shows a new method of doing so. Although so far only in humans cells, it gives a tantalising glimpse at was is in store:
Reversing Cellular Aging Takes Another Step Forward Full Text

Here, a naturally occurring enzyme is shown to improve the gut barrier function and as a consequence improved the frailty and lifespan of mice and flies. As it is natural and has already been safely administered to humans in a trial for ulcerative colitis, it should have a quicker path to the clinic for longevity purposes:
Gut enzyme IAP found to prevent aging and frailty in animal models Full Text

In this paper it has been shown once again the rejuvenatory powers of young blood plasma when given to older mice. This time the young plasma reversed the transcriptomal signatures of normal ageing in the capillaries of the brain:
Brain Endothelial Cells Are Exquisite Sensors of Age-Related Circulatory Cues. Full Text

CRISPR/Cas9, which is the current star of the gene editing field, has here been used to prevent muscle wasting and loss of strength in mice. Unlike conventional drugs, treatments would only have to be given once:
CRISPR/Cas9-Mediated miR-29b Editing as a Treatment of Different Types of Muscle Atrophy in Mice. Full Text

Finally, in this paper, Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells have been used to regenerate blood vessels in the mouse eye with a greater efficiency than has previously been possible:
Primitive Stem Cells Regenerate Blood Vessels in the Eye Full Text

Covid-19 Longevity Related Papers:
Geroprotective and senoremediative strategies to reduce the comorbidity, infection rates, severity, and lethality in gerophilic and gerolavic infections. Full Text
COVID-19 and chronological aging: senolytics and other anti-aging drugs for the treatment or prevention of corona virus infection? Full Text
Transplantation of ACE2- Mesenchymal Stem Cells Improves the Outcome of Patients with COVID-19 Pneumonia. Full Text
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Further sources of information:
Fight Aging! (quite opinionated about the damage theory of ageing)
Life Extension Advocacy Foundation (LEAF) (best source of longevity information on the web)
Longecity (good forums where the self-experimenters reside!)
Aging Matters (good blog from the programmed ageing side)
Research Institutes:
SENS Research Foundation (I have a recurring monthly donation)
Buck Institute

Private initiatives:
Age-Reversal Network (good information & forums for those interested in self-experimentation – this is where I found how to get non-prescription Rapamycin)
Better Humans
Gerontology Research Group
Lifespan.io (Tied together with LEAF, I have a recurring monthly donation)

==========================================================================================================================================

March 2020 Supplemental Information

***Disclaimer 1 – As should be self-evident to anyone receiving these emails, I am NOT a doctor or indeed a scientist. All the information pertained within is for information purposes only; use at your own risk. Please consult with a healthcare practitioner if needing medical advice.***

**Disclaimer 2 – In no way should supplements be a replacement for an unhealthy diet or lifestyle. A varied, plant dominant dietary pattern is the cornerstone for health. Try to eat the rainbow – the greater the variety, the greater the benefit. Even though I might take a supplement derived from a plant source, I still eat the plant in question. Also, make sure you move as much as possible – that is what we evolved to do.**

*Also bear in mind that most of the studies mentioned below are in rodents, not humans. Rodents, needless to say, do not always react the same way to drugs as humans do – witness the countless times cancer or another disease has been cured in rodents only to subsequently fail human trials. I have *bolded any human trials.*
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lifestyle

Fasting/Dietary Restriction – certainly the cheapest & also one of the most effective anti-ageing interventions currently available. It comes in many flavours, but I fast for at least 12 hours every day.
*Dietary restriction for prevention of contrast-induced acute kidney injury in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary angiography: a randomized controlled trial. Full Text
*Fasting for stem cell rejuvenation Full Text
*Changes in body weight, adherence, and appetite during 2 years of calorie restriction: the CALERIE 2 randomized clinical trial.
*Reduced caloric intake and periodic fasting independently contribute to metabolic effects of caloric restriction. Full Text
*Determinants of Adherence in Time-Restricted Feeding in Older Adults: Lessons from a Pilot Study. Full Text

Diet – let food be thy medicine…
*Fish Intake May Affect Brain Structure and Improve Cognitive Ability in Healthy People. Full Text *Self-Reported Omega-3 Supplement Use Moderates the Association between Age and Exercising Cerebral Blood Flow Velocity in Older Adults. Full Text
*Associations of habitual fish oil supplementation with cardiovascular outcomes and all cause mortality: evidence from a large population based cohort study. Full Text
*Dietary and Serum Omega-6/Omega-3 Fatty Acids Are Associated with Physical and Metabolic Function in Stroke Survivors. Full Text
Green Tea Catechins Trigger Immediate-Early Genes in the Hippocampus and Prevent Cognitive Decline and Lifespan Shortening.

Exercise – if you could bottle the benefits of exercise, it would be the biggest blockbuster drug of all time.
*A Cross-Sectional Study Evaluating the Effects of Resistance Exercise on Inflammation and Neurotrophic Factors in Elderly Women with Obesity. Full Text
*Effects of simultaneous cognitive and aerobic exercise training on dual-task walking performance in healthy older adults: results from a pilot randomized controlled trial. Full Text
*How Physical Activity across the Lifespan Can Reduce the Impact of Bone Ageing: A Literature Review. Full Text
*The Effect of 12 Weeks of Different Exercise Training Modalities or Nutritional Guidance on Cardiometabolic Risk Factors, Vascular Parameters, and Physical Fitness in Overweight Adults: Cardiometabolic High-Intensity Interval Training-Resistance Training Randomized Controlled Study.

Non-prescription Supplements (in alphabetical order)
*Due to concerns about engendering homeostasis, I’ve begun varying my intake of supplements so that I’m not taking all of them every day. Haven’t worked out a rota so far.

Astaxanthin – which is behind the pink colour of salmon & shrimp. Considered the most powerful carotinoid, it has anti-oxidative, anti-inflamatory, anti-cancer, neuro-protective and skin-protective qualities. I take 4 or 8 mg intermittently.
*Effects of Astaxanthin Supplementation on Skin Health: A Systematic Review of Clinical Studies.
Combination therapy with astaxanthin and epidermal neural crest stem cells improves motor impairments and activates mitochondrial biogenesis in a rat model of spinal cord injury.
Astaxanthin Protects Ochratoxin A-Induced Oxidative Stress and Apoptosis in the Heart via the Nrf2 Pathway. Full Text Protective Effect of Astaxanthin on Ochratoxin A-Induced Kidney Injury to Mice by Regulating Oxidative Stress-Related NRF2/KEAP1 Pathway. Full Text Astaxanthin (ATX) enhances the intestinal mucosal functions in immunodeficient mice.