Boost in hunt for drug to fight ageing

Hopes of developing anti-ageing drugs have been given a boost by new research involving an ingredient in red wine.
By The Newsroom
Published 2nd May 2012, 07:00 BST

Previous studies have shown that the plant compound resveratrol improves the health of mice fed a high-fat diet and increases their lifespan. Scientists have now confirmed how this occurs. Resveratrol enhances the activity of energy-generating powerplants in cells via a gene called SIRT1, which is also linked to longevity.

Researchers are already looking at molecules that mimic the effect of resveratrol by targeting SIRT1. Such compounds could form the basis of future drugs that extend disease-free lifespan.

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The experiments involved a new strain of laboratory mouse whose SIRT1 gene can be switched off.

When adult mice were given low doses of resveratrol with SIRT1 disabled, no effect was seen on the cellular powerplants, called “mitochondria”.

But mice with normal SIRT1 showed dramatic increases in energy after exposure to resveratrol.

“The results were surprisingly clear,” said lead researcher Professor David Sinclair of Harvard Medical School in the US. “Without the mitochondria-boosting gene SIRT1, resveratrol does not work.”