On March 10, 2022, the Salk Institute in the United States published an article on anti-aging of mountain factors in Nature Aging, which triggered an anti-aging boom for a time. The reason why the research results are strongly reflected is mainly because it has increased the lifespan of mice, and it is expected to be applied to humans, so that humans can achieve "rejuvenation".
Scientists discovered the yamanaka factor as early as 2006, and combined the mechanism of action of the yamanaka factor with senescent cells, taking mice as experimental objects, using yamanaka factor to intervene in the brain cells of elderly mice, successfully reversing the aging process of mouse brain cells, so that the average lifespan of mice with an average lifespan of only 18 weeks was extended to 24 weeks, and the longest lived to nearly 30 weeks.
At the heart of this research is the use of mountain factors to induce differentiated somatic cells to transform back into differentiated stem cells. In layman's terms, we can regard differentiated tissue cells as a middle-aged and elderly person whose vitality has begun to decline, and regard stem cells as a teenager with strong vitality, and scientists can use yamanaka factors to intervene in this "middle-aged and elderly" to make him return to his old age and restore the cell state to youth.
Yamanaka factor is so magical, what is it?
What is the Yamanaka Factor?
The Yamanaka factor was proposed by the Japanese scientist Shinya Yamanaka and refers to four transcription factors (Oct4, Sox2, Klf4, and c-Myc). Transferring these four transcription factors into somatic cells allows the somatic cells to reprogram and regain the ability to divide and differentiate into a special stem cell. This particular stem cell is also known as induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), and this technique of artificially transferring foreign genes into somatic cells is called gene reprogramming.
The essence of The Yamanaka factor is actually four oncogenes. According to life experience, I believe that everyone is "smelling cancer", but the infinite division ability of oncogenes can reverse the aging clock of cells. Individuals are composed of adult stem cells and functional cells, and there are constantly stem cells dividing and differentiating new cells to supplement functional cells, and individuals appear young; when cells lose the function of division, there is no new cell to supplement functional cells, functional cells gradually age, and individuals also show aging, so the aging of individuals is ultimately caused by the aging of cells. The Yamanaka factor allows them to regain the ability to divide, so as to delay the purpose of cellular aging.
According to the theory, since the yamanaka factor can reverse the senescent cells of mice, can it be applied to human senescent cells and continue to extend the life of human beings, so as to achieve immortality? Over the past 15 years, the Yamanaka factor-based gene reprogramming technology has been extensively studied, which has obvious efficacy in alleviating aging and prolonging life, but it is still impossible to intervene in human cells through Yamanaka factor. Although yamanaka factor effectively improves the lifespan of mice, the current technology is still unstable and there are many drawbacks.
Disadvantages of gene reprogramming techniques
First, a short reprogramming process can make mice weak or even dead. This may be due to the fact that regulated genes affect the expression of a range of unrelated genes, or activate genes associated with cell division, causing cells to be unable to perform normal physiological functions.
Second, a short period of reprogramming cannot last, and the reprogrammed cell only increases its number of divisions, not makes it stably and infinitely divided.
Finally, the current reprogramming technology is not mature enough to reprogram all cells "indiscriminately" for a short time, and the Yamanaka factor itself belongs to cancer cells, and the intervention process is likely to make the cells "dizzy" and become malignant tumors, which is counterproductive. If targeted programming can be achieved in the future, and only the cells that need it can be directed, the side effects of reprogramming can be greatly reduced.
Although the current Yamanaka factor can indeed improve the lifespan of mice, it needs further exploration and research to apply it to human anti-aging. Speaking of anti-aging, the most talked about on the market in recent years is antioxidant. So what does antioxidant have to do with aging? How should we fight aging scientifically?
1. Antioxidant
The daily metabolism of the human body is an oxidation process, but after a long time of oxidation, free radicals will make human cells rust like iron nails. Free radicals are electron-deficient substances that are quite chemically active and can react with almost any substance in the human body. It will be like a robber in the human body everywhere to compete for electrons, so that the material in the human body is distorted, and the material that has been robbed of the electrons continues to compete for electrons elsewhere, thus forming a vicious circle and producing a large number of distorted molecules in the human body. Under normal circumstances, there are some natural antioxidants in the human body to fight free radicals and protect cells. When the amount of free radical in the human body exceeds a certain amount and loses control, it will scurry around, attack normal cells, and accelerate aging.
To avoid "rusting", it is necessary to reduce free radicals in the body. Free radicals are produced in human cells and are also found in the daily environment. Free radicals in the human body are produced when cells breathe, and most of the free radicals in the outside world are found in ultraviolet rays, tobacco, oil smoke, car exhaust, polluted air and so on. To delay aging, it is necessary to avoid free radicals entering the body, and at the same time to remove free radicals in the body in time. In daily life, we should pay attention to sun protection; eat more foods containing tea polyphenols, anthocyanins, VC, VE, carotene, lycopene and other antioxidant substances; do not smoke, avoid smoking second-hand smoke; exercise in moderation; ensure adequate sleep; wear a good mask.
2. Dietary restrictions
In early Taoism, there was the use of "valley breaking technique" to prolong life, similar to the modern dietary restrictions. Diet restriction anti-aging has a hundred years of history, scientists have used monkeys to do experiments on restricted diet, the results found that the monkeys in the restricted diet group have a lower incidence of elderly diseases than monkeys without restricted diet, and the mental state is significantly better, which shows that restricted diet can delay aging to a certain extent.
Regarding the mechanism, it is related to a protein called mTOR. mTOR protein can control the growth and metabolism of cells, restricting diet will inhibit the role of this protein, so that the metabolic rate of its cells declines, while can induce the clearance mechanism in the cell, the cell can remove metabolic wastes such as free radicals in time, to achieve the effect of delaying aging. In addition, restricting diet can also prevent people from becoming obese and reduce the probability of getting sick. It should be noted that dietary restriction does not mean fasting, and the intake of food should be limited under the premise of ensuring normal dietary needs.
- Develop good lifestyle habits and eating habits
Aging is an inevitable natural phenomenon, in daily life should be based on prevention, delay aging is by no means a day or two can be achieved. First of all, we should develop good living habits in life, avoid staying up late, exposing to the sun, smoking and drinking, and drink more water and exercise. In the diet, it is also necessary to stay away from irritating foods, do not overeat, reduce the burden on the liver and the damage to the stomach and intestines, and eat more foods rich in vitamins and minerals.
The discovery and application of the Yamanaka factor does provide scientists with new anti-aging ideas, but this method still has a long way to go before it can be applied to humans. At present, we can only develop good living habits and create an excellent living environment to achieve the purpose of prolonging life.