SCIENTISTS MAY BE ABLE TO EXTEND HUMAN LIFESPAN

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, February 8, 1992                   TAG: 9202080177
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-12   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: CHICAGO                                LENGTH: Medium
SCIENTISTS MAY BE ABLE TO EXTEND HUMAN LIFESPAN
A growing body of animal evidence suggests that eventually it may be possible to extend normal human lifespans beyond the biblically prescribed three score and 10.
Findings presented Friday give new perspective to the mystery of aging. Researchers investigating the field for years have come up with isolated clues, but until recently their findings rarely have meshed with one another.
At a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, scientists from California and Colorado reported that they have been able to extend the lifespans of fruit flies and the common roundworm by manipulation of genes that some call "Methuselah" genes.
That gene is the blueprint for an enzyme that destroys highly reactive molecules called free radicals, which form naturally in the body and are thought to speed aging by hastening the breakdown of normal cells. The new work suggests that, eventually, the lifespan of humans could be manipulated by drugs or genetic engineering.
"Aging is something that we can manipulate, analyze and understand," said University of California, Irvine biologist Michael R. Rose. "Aging can be changed."
In fact, Rose and his colleagues have been able to double the lifespan of flies, giving them the equivalent of a human lifespan of 150 years. They achieved this by reversing the rules for natural selection, which is the fundamental basis for the process of evolution.
Evolution typically favors members of a species that reproduce at an early age. Early reproduction increases the odds that the parent-to-be will have eluded death by predators or disease and hence that their genes passed on. But an abundance of evidence shows that delaying reproduction actually prolongs life, according to evolutionary biologist Steven Austad of Harvard University.
By genetic manipulation in cross-breeding experiments, Rose and his colleagues repeatedly delayed the reproduction of flies and their offspring until later in life than usual. After multiple generations, they found that the average lifespan of the flies had increased by 80 percent.
They also found that they could increase lifespan by restricting the amount of food the flies eat and by exposing the flies to extreme environmental stress and mating only those who survived.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB