Anti-Aging Conference: Any News?
The big anti-aging conference was held this month, from the 4th thru
the 6th. Anyone have any feedback on what went on?
I think the News machine here at U of C is finally
working normally, so maybe this will get through.
One thing worth mentioning (something that could only have
been learned at the conference) is a recently completed
study of CoEnzyme Q10. Steven B. Harris and L. Stephen Coles
gave a talk on a study of CoQ10 on life span in mice. CoQ10
had no effect on maximum life span, but it did increase avg.
LS. Autopsies showed that what was happening is that the
CoQ10 animals were getting lymphoma at a later age than the
controls. That, apparently, was the main (only?) thing
accounting for the difference in avg. LS.
But, interestingly, they had a video clip of the two groups
in old age that showed an obvious diff. The controls really
looked old -- they were moving slowly, etc. The CoQ10 looked
much more vigorous. There is a loose test of vitality done
w/rodents that was captured on film: put the animals in a
pan (about 3 inches deep) and see whether the animals can
jump out of it. Rodents (or mice, at least) will always try
to jump out of a pan like this. The controls tried but
failed, whereas the Co10 mice tried and succeeded (I think
it was 4 or 5 successful jumps in around 15-20 seconds of
filming).