Chinese scientists claim anti-ageing breakthrough with spinal cord discovery
- Researchers find protein at ‘toxic’ levels surrounding motor neurons of older monkeys and test whether vitamin C really makes a difference
- The study could fill a gap in scientific understanding of the relationship between ageing and the spine’s critical role in health and mobility
The cell subtype surrounds the motor neurons in the spinal cord and is believed to accelerate the ageing process, making it a factor in the shuffling gait common among the elderly, according to an unedited paper published by the peer-reviewed journal Nature on October 31.
The study involved researchers from three labs who were jointly supervised by Liu Guanghui and Qu Jing from the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Zoology, and Zhang Weiqi at the academy’s Beijing Institute of Genomics.
The team hopes its discovery could fill a knowledge gap in the poorly understood mechanisms underlying the relationship between ageing and the spinal cord’s critical role in sustaining health and mobility.
In an interview with the state-owned Science and Technology Daily, Liu said the team analysed single cells to identify unique groups that developed around ageing motor neurons in the spinal cords of elderly primates.
“These distinct cell clusters must have a specific life purpose. Our further investigation revealed that they secrete a ‘toxic’ protein that contributes to accelerating the ageing of motor neurons,” he said.
