Reverse Agining

[lixluke]

So the human biology is programmed to grow older each year.
Is it possible to program it to grown younger?
Like as you get older yearly, your body gets younger and younger until it is a baby. Then you would try to get doctors to reverse you back to regular aging so that you would no be too young to do anything.

 

[Stryder]

I have heard of some disorders that involve the human body stunting growth while ageing, however I doubt you could have a complete reversal since most epidermal ageing is caused by radiological damage that builds up over the years.

It would be a bit like a Tree trying to train it's genes to reverse it's trend of creating new layers of bark, it can't recede it's circles.

 

[Communist Hamster]

It would be a bit like a Tree trying to train it's genes to reverse it's trend of creating new layers of bark, it can't recede it's circles.

It could secrete an acid in it's bark which dissolves wood, but that wouldn't be very good for the whole "natural selection" thing no would it?

And I think "programmed to grow old" is a misnomer. You're not programmed to go old any more than a hard drive is programmed to fail after 5 years or so. it just happens because you wear out.

 

[JoojooSpaceape]

A lot of times getting older/weaker is the result of your dna unravelling. Its true that eating certain things cna help keep your dna in line so to say, but no matter what eventually it just can't keep recreating itself

 

[geodesic]

And I think "programmed to grow old" is a misnomer.

Not entirely. The length of the telomeres in DNA are directly linked to the number of times the cell can divide. In normal human cells, the limit is around 50 divisions. However, it is possible for cells to lengthen their telomeres, as in the HeLa cell line, through the use of telomerase, making the cell line effectively immortal.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telomerase
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayflick_limit

 

[Communist Hamster]

Not entirely. The length of the telomeres in DNA are directly linked to the number of times the cell can divide. In normal human cells, the limit is around 50 divisions. However, it is possible for cells to lengthen their telomeres, as in the HeLa cell line, through the use of telomerase, making the cell line effectively immortal.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telomerase
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayflick_limit

Interesting, I didn't know that. Would this prevent aging (wrinkling, organ failure, cataraacts etc) or merely prevent death?

 

[Bebelina]

You can program your mind so it at least slows down the aging process, reverse I don't know, never heard of it. It takes a lot of effort though, effort that can be placed elsewhere.

 

[MetaKron]

Not entirely. The length of the telomeres in DNA are directly linked to the number of times the cell can divide. In normal human cells, the limit is around 50 divisions. However, it is possible for cells to lengthen their telomeres, as in the HeLa cell line, through the use of telomerase, making the cell line effectively immortal.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telomerase
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayflick_limit

The wierd thing is that I read that at least in the test tube, telomerase caused cancerous cells to revert to normal growth. That's the first thing that I ever read about telomerase.

The Hayflick limit to prevent cancer does not make sense to me. A limit of 52 divisions limits the possible number of daughter cells to 4.5 times 10^15 times the number of cells involved. Even ten to the tenth power times a microgram of flesh is 100 kilograms. Also, cancer cells seem quite able to set this limit aside, making it irrelevant to their cause.

This limit exists for every lifeform down to pond scum. I would not know what it would take, if it is as simple as using telomerase treatments, to keep a warm-blooded vertebrate alive longer, but bacteria have been observed sacrificing some of their number to become single-strand DNA that other bacteria scavenge to lengthen their own telomeres. That mechanism is necessary because bacteria also lose a telomere per cell division from their DNA. If they did not have this restoration feature they would die out after 50 generations.

This implies that viruses can lengthen telomeres, like retroviruses which have been proven to stimulate cell growth.