"Scientists get closer to rejuvenating aging muscles"-- Health Day News
Rejuvenating aging muscles -- I was really feeling the need for something like that this weekend in the course of my first-ever kayaking trip. I felt my age then . . . NO, correction! I felt my age twice over. But good news-- no after-effects the next day.
Which leads into an article I came upon, "Scientists get closer to rejuvenating aging muscles" by Mary Elizabeth Dallas, in Health Day News (which I had never run across before).
The report is on a study conducted at Stanford's Baxter Laboratory for Stem Cell Biology. The study takes a very different approach than the fictional lab in my technothriller A REMEDY FOR DEATH, but I thought you'd find it of interest.
One thing struck me: "the muscle stem cells in 2-year old mice are the equivalent of those found in 80-year old humans." Implication: maybe there's a market for canes and walkers for old mice!
Seriously, the process involves taking muscle stem cells from the oldsters (only mice, so far) and treat them in a certain way, then reimplanting in those muscle groups. Two months later, those muscles were essentiall equivalent to those of young, uninjured mice.
Link to the article "Scientists get closer to rejuvenating aging muscles"