4 replies to this topic

[AgeVivo]

Hello,

I thought I should start my logbook too.

So far I am being asked questions. So I will start with a question: may I participate with 3 or 4 mice at home?
Hints:
- I am already testing C60 in 3 aged mice at home
- I will lead the protocol and be in contact with the participants all along our community experience
- and... We want the experiment to be double blind
Is it compatible? I will discuss it here : presenting and discussing such thoughts all along the experiment, including its preparation (an essential step) is called "open science".


PS: I must say I am very enthusiastic about being in this community (whether I will also be a participant or not) and very curious to meet people (and pets!) from different horizons in this "collective research at home" (!). Whether or not C60 will be found to extend lifespan more than olive oil, as reported by Baati et al, I hope we will make something great. So far, I am already very impressed about the quality of the elements brought to the planning of Mprize at home: "open science" seems to work!

Cheers,
AgeVivo

Edited by AgeVivo, 21 August 2012 - 07:45 PM.

[AgeVivo]

Q&A: What is Mprize at home?
Mprize at home is a collaboration between rodent pet owners, where taking care of one's pets at home contributes in research against aging and age-related diseases.

- How does it work: What do the pet owners typically do?
Every other week, they give their pets a solution on a piece of bread and report about their pets on a forum

- So what does the solution contain?
Something that was reported to increase rodent lifespans: either olive oil (with a colorant), or olive oil with some carbon powder (C60) that was reported to extend rat lifespan much more than olive oil alone. This is actually what we are trying to doublecheck with this experiment.

- Shouldn't you do it with one specific strain in a sterile lab?
Here we are aiming to do something that is much closer to human conditions. Indeed this is directly done in our living places.Also, having a variety of animals is important: we want to check if the life extension is robust in the sense that it works across diverse conditions.

- Is that going to work?
Top researchers in mouse life extension tests already use heterogeneous mice. Not in models of human homes yet. And not on the web yet. But the high transparency of online reports and discussions is essential to join forces for the quality of the experiment

- Ok, when will we start to know if it worked?
In the sense of living longer? In about 2-3 years. Because to avoid scientific bias we won't disclose the content of the solutions earlier. Whether it works or not, this will at least be interesting times where we will learn about the pets and passions of each other.

Cool, isn't it?

Edited by AgeVivo, 22 August 2012 - 07:42 PM.

[AgeVivo]

I currently have 3 mice that are preparing Mprize at home C60: they have been taking C60 the treatment since they turned 18 month old and they will soon be 21 month old. The whole experiment is described here: http://www.longecity...lifespan-study/ For now they are obviously healthy, especially for their age; but absolutely nothing conclusive yet. Here is a video that I took today: http://agevivo.com/l...082012-mice.wmv .

This preparatory experiment has allowed to check the administration method, the non-toxicity, the right dose (and I had it wrong by a factor of 2 initially, but thanks to the "open science" approach I was informed about it). HOWEVER:
- this is not double blind, so if they live long anyone could think "yes, he was influenced and therefore just took very good care of them"
- This is only N=3 without control so unless they live 5 years (could it be? so far overall I perceive a slow decline with aging, with ups and downs) it is clearly not enough, and if they suddenly die within the net month (I hope not) it will be thought tht something occured to them
And you know what? Mprize at home answers those points pretty well

In any case, it is very cool to have such mice at home, who might be changing the world!?!

[AgeVivo]

Hello, things have taken much time for various reasons.
1) I was busy. Several persons have rats at home and told me they are interested but we couldn't find common time with them to help them get started
2) We were internally discussing by PM between the organisers on how to best handle the experiment. I think now we've got a sufficient level of vision in details to start well
3) Having this not start doesn't help other start. Though so far there is no issue, in the contrary. So
=> 2013 resolution, try to make this take off.

[AgeVivo]

Things are slowly taking off. The preliminary test in very few mice is promising and we now have over 20 rats in prepared to start the experiment very soon. If we can double it we could get solid results.

Edited by AgeVivo, 30 March 2013 - 11:31 PM.