Deprenyl: an Anti-Aging Drug?
Motivated by a thread which appeared a short time ago, I just
completed a preliminary investigation of deprenyl (also known as
eldepryl and selegiline) as a life extension drug. The purpose
of my study was to gather information on the possible life
extension effects of the drug versus its possible side effects to
determine whether or not I should take the drug for the purpose
of life extension. Although I have no training in pharmacology
or medicine, I scanned the abstracts in Medline for the last
several years, posted an inquiry to the newsgroup sci.med, and
read the book "Deprenyl, the Anti-Aging Drug" by Alastair Dow,
published by Hallberg Publishing Corporation and available from
the Life Extension Foundation.
At this stage in the investigation, I had planned to take one of
three actions: (1) start taking the drug based on the data
gathered so far, (2) gather further information before making a
decision, (3) not take the drug and abandon the project. I have
reluctantly decided to take the third action. Based on the
evidence gathered so far, I don't feel the evidence for deprenyl
is sufficiently strong to justify spending more time on the
project.
Here is a summary of what I found: Deprenyl is licensed in the
United States as an adjunctive drug in the treatment of
Parkinson's disease. Deprenyl has been hyped as a life extension
drug based on an experiment in Hungary in the 1980's showing a
dramatic increase in the lifespan and activity level of aged rats
who were injected with the drug. Similar controlled experiments
on rats have been done elsewhere with positive, but much less
dramatic results. I was disappointed by the lack of any results
showing a life extension effect in animal experiments in which
deprenyl was ingested, rather than injected (although Deprenyl
was once promoted as an additive for dog food and Dow's book
contains one anecdotal story of an old dog appearing healthier
after deprenyl was added to his food).
I was disappointed by the lack of any results
showing a life extension effect in animal experiments in which
deprenyl was ingested, rather than injected (although Deprenyl
was once promoted as an additive for dog food and Dow's book
contains one anecdotal story of an old dog appearing healthier
after deprenyl was added to his food).
If you found animal studies in which it was ingested but it didn't
extend life, I'd like to know. If, on the other hand, you simply mean
that there were no animal studies in which it was ingested, then that
is less significant. You may be interested in this pointer to a paper
where it did extend the life of humans when ingested; this was
published more than seven years ago. This study was uncontrolled, and
the humans in question all had Parkinson's disease, so this isn't the
final word.