Increasing Maximum Life Span
Currently, the only (non-transgenic) method of increasing maximum life span that is recognized by biogerontologists is calorie restriction with adequate nutrition. "Maximum life span" here means the mean life span of the most long-lived 10% of a given cohort, as caloric restriction has not yet been shown to break mammalian world records for longevity. Rats, mice, and hamsters experience maximum life-span extension from a diet that contains 40–60% of the calories (but all of the required nutrients) that the animals consume when they can eat as much as they want. Mean life span is increased 65% and maximum life span is increased 50%, when caloric restriction is begun just before puberty.). For fruit flies the life extending benefits of calorie restriction are gained immediately at any age upon beginning calorie restriction and ended immediately at any age upon resuming full feeding).
A few transgenic strains of mice have been created that have maximum life spans greater than that of wild-type or laboratory mice. The Ames and Snell mice, which have mutations in pituitary transcription factors and hence are deficient in Gh, LH, TSH, and secondarily IGF1, have extensions in maximal lifespan of up to 65%. To date, both in absolute and relative terms, these Ames and Snell mice have the maximum lifespan of any mouse not on caloric restriction (see below on GhR). Mutations/knockout of other genes affecting the GH/IGF1 axis, such as Lit, Ghr and Irs1 have also shown extension in lifespan, but much more modest both in relative and absolute terms. The longest lived laboratory mouse ever was a Ghr knockout mouse on caloric restriction, which lived to ~1800 days (maximum for normal B6 mice under ideal conditions is 1200 days) in the lab of Andrzej Bartke at Southern Illinois University.
Most biomedical gerontologists (gerontologists who search for ways to extend maximum life span) believe that biomedical molecular engineering will eventually extend maximum lifespan and even bring about rejuvenation.
Aubrey de Grey, a theoretical gerontologist, has proposed that the damage called aging can be reversed by SENS (Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence). Dr. de Grey has established The Methuselah Mouse Prize to award money to researchers who can extend the maximum life span of mice. Andrzej Bartke collected the prize for the GhR knockout mouse and Stephen Spindler collected the prize for extending the maximum lifespan of an adult mouse, using caloric restriction initiated late in life.
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