A step towards anti-aging – Scientists successfully extend the lifespan of a rat

An experiment conducted under the supervision of Dr. Harold Katcher is providing humanity with a ray of hope for achieving the dream of reversing aging.  

While serving his tenure at Yuvan Research Inc., he discovered the factor in young animals' blood that controlled the age of the organism. He tested it on eight female rats of the Sprague Dawley species. "Sima" is currently the only survivor of that group, but the age she reached has provided the scientist with a vision of human rejuvenation.    

Sima surpassed the limit 

Named after the Hindi word for "boundary" or "limit," Sima was born on 28th February 2019 and has survived for more than 47 months, outliving the oldest age ever recorded in the scientific literature for a female Sprague-Dawley rat, i.e., 45.5 months, as claimed by the researchers.    

To date, Sima has surpassed the age of her nearest contender by almost six months.    

Dr. Ketcher, the chief scientific officer of a California-based startup Yuvan, stated, "Cellular aging is a cell manual process which does not depend on the cell's history, but on its environment."    

The results of the latest study of Dr. Ketcher will be penned down once Sima dies. However, the data gathered up until now indicates that eight rats injected with placebo infusions of saline managed to live up to 38 months, while the eight that received E5 (a concentrated and purified form of blood plasma) survived for up to 47 months. The plasma also significantly improved the grip strength.    

Although the experiment reinvigorates rodents' aging organs and tissues, there is no evidence to support that the vampiric approach of youthfulness will promote anti-aging in humans.    

"The actual aim of our experiments is not to extend lifespan, but to rejuvenate people, to extend youthspan, to transform their golden years into potentially golden years, instead of years of decrepitude and pain," Katcher said. "But the fact is, if we can do that, we also manage to extend the life, and that's not at all a bad side-effect." 

The future of E5 

The process of E5 production is pending for patent. "The Illusion of Knowledge," a book by Dr. Ketcher, captures the story of its discovery.  

Yuvan plans to try the material on other species before testing it on humans. If counted in human years, Sima has already grown 126 years old, considering 122.5 years as the maximum age of a human being.   

By surpassing the lifespan limit of Sprague Dawley, Sima reminds us that the history of human beings is a history of surpassing limits.