There are those who would sell their souls to the devil in exchange for eternal youth, but, although medical advances have given us more years of life and the possibility of overcoming diseases that were once fatal, an old man cannot have the appearance (nor the health and abilities) physical) of a twentysomething. However, science does not rest and now a team of researchers from the Quadram Institute and the University of East Anglia have tested an unlikely (and perhaps unattractive) way to get closer to achieving this goal, and that is that they have shown that transplanting fecal microbiota from young to old mice can reverse signs of aging in the gut, eyes, and brain of the latter.
When the transplant was done the other way around, that is, the young mice received the microbes present in the fecal samples of the older ones, there was inflammation in their brain and a protein that is essential for normal vision was depleted. The results of the study, which has been published in the journal Microbiome, reveal that the microorganisms that inhabit the intestine play a role in the regulation of certain harmful effects of aging and that therapies based on these microbes can help combat them.
“This groundbreaking study provides tantalizing evidence for the direct involvement of gut microbes in aging and functional decline in brain function and vision, and offers a potential solution in the form of gut microbe replacement therapy,” said Dr. Professor Simon Carding, UEA Norwich Medical School and Director of the Gut Microbes and Health Research Program at the Quadram Institute.
Gut microbiota, health and aging
It has long been known that an imbalance in the population of microorganisms that we have in the intestine – and that it is made up of bacteria, viruses, fungi, protozoa, archaea… – is associated with the development of numerous diseases, from digestive disorders such as abdominal swelling , to mental disorders such as depression or Alzheimer’s, among others, while, on the contrary, a healthy intestinal microbiota is considered to increase life expectancy.
“We hope that our findings will contribute to understanding how we can manipulate our diet and gut bacteria to maximize good health in adulthood.”
Some of the changes in the composition of the microbiota occur as we age, negatively influencing metabolism and immunity, and have therefore been linked to age-related disorders, including inflammatory bowel diseases and cardiovascular disorders , autoimmune, metabolic and neurodegenerative.
The authors of the new study transferred gut microbes from elderly mice to young, healthy mice and vice versa and analyzed their impact on inflammatory hallmarks of aging in the gut, brain and eyes, whose function declines during old age. They found that the microbiota of the old rodents caused the loss of the integrity of the lining of the intestine and this allowed bacterial products to penetrate into the bloodstream, which triggered the activation of the immune system and inflammation in the brain and eyes.
Harmful changes in the gut, eyes and brain of old mice could be reversed by transplanting the gut microbiota of young mice. The researchers are now continuing the study to find out how long the observed positive effects may last and to identify the components of the microbiota of young donors that are beneficial and how they affect organs that are far from the intestine.
The gut microbiota of humans also changes significantly in adulthood, but the researchers have cautioned that their results cannot be extrapolated to people until similar studies are possible in older humans. To this end, a new facility for Microbiota Replacement Therapy (MRT), also known as Fecal Microbiota Transplantation (FMT), is currently being built at the Quadram Institute, which will facilitate these types of trials and others to study related conditions. with the microbiota.
Lead author of the study, Dr. Aimee Parker of the Quadram Institute, said:
“Our results provide further evidence for the important links between microbes in the gut and healthy aging of tissues and organs throughout the body. We hope our findings will ultimately contribute to understanding how we can manipulate our diet and gut bacteria to maximize good health in later life.”
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