Jaskelioff M., Muller FL., Paik JH., Thomas E., Jiang S., Adams AC., Sahin E., Kost-Alimova M., Protopopov A., Cadiñanos J., Horner JW., Maratos-Flier E., Depinho RA. Telomerase reactivation reverses tissue degeneration in aged telomerase-deficient mice. Nature. 2011;469(7328):102-106.

According to a study published in the January 2011 issue of the journal Nature, premature aging can be reversed by reactivating telomerase, the enzyme that lengthens telomeres.

The study, led by Ronald DePinho, a scientist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts, and Harvard Medical School, offers the possibility of slowing normal human aging by activating telomerase in cells that have stopped working. The researchers studied mice that were artificially aged by shutting down telomerase. The mice experienced:

• Weak organs

• barren

• Gray Hair

• dermatitis

• Other age-related diseases

• Died young.

However, when telomerase was turned back on, the mice became younger. The researchers found that with telomerase activated, signs and symptoms of aging were dramatically reversed. Benefits include:

• Increased brain size

• Improved cognitive abilities

• Restores healthy-looking hair

• Restoring fertility

• Rehabilitation of organs (spleen, liver, intestines)

The most important lesson from this study is that aged tissues, even those in an advanced state of degeneration, still retain an amazing capacity for self-renewal and that telomerase, once activated, can reverse certain aspects of aging.

"If you look at all these data together, you come to the conclusion that the loss of telomerase may be a very important inducer of the aging process," said Dr. de Pinho.