GDF11 Makes Aged Brains And Muscles Behavior Younger

Sunday, May 4, 2014 - 17:20 in Biology & Nature

A protein that can make the failing hearts in aging mice appear more like those of young health mice similarly improves brain and skeletal muscle function in aging mice, according to two papers in Science. Professors Amy Wagers and Lee Rubin, of Harvard's Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology (HSCRB), report that injections of a protein known as GDF11, which is found in humans as well as mice, improved the exercise capability of mice equivalent in age to that of about a 70-year-old human, and also improved the function of the olfactory region of the brains of the older mice – they could detect smell as younger mice do. read more

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