In recent years, more and more institutes have been founded which try to slow down aging or reverse aging. Aging is complicated and so reversing aging requires different approaches. Today we will see how we can use stem cells to slow down aging!

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John Gurdon is a scientist from the UK who discovered pioneered nuclear transfer. He transferred the nucleus of a intestine cell into a fertilized egg and observed that a whole frog formed. This means that the intestine nucleus was converted back into an "egg cell" nucleus. Later, scientists have defined stem cells. Stem cells are cells which are able to make more stem cells (self-renewal) and give rise to more specialized cells. Hematopoietic stem cells for example give rise to red blood cells and immune cells. Stem cells help us to renew our skin, gut, blood components and muscles. It has been long proposed that stem cells can make specialized cells but not vice versa. Shinya Yamanaka on the other hand found that we can introduce four genes (Yamanaka genes) into skin cells to turn them into stem cells. Based on this idea, scientists now try to slow down or reverse aging by protecting stem cells.
In multiple studies, Yamanaka genes were used to rejuvinate the body. In one study, mice which suffer from progeria (a disease where animals age faster) lived 20% longer after the introduction of Yamanaka genes. In another study, blindness was treated using the Yamanka genes. However, this form of therapy still needs to be refined until it can be used to slow down aging.
Several studies indicate that we can keep our stem cells for longer if we make the right lifestyle choices. Intermittent fasting has been shown to stimulate stem cells. Besides that a ketogenic diet (low in carbohydrates, high in plant based fats) has been proposed to be beneficial for the activity of stem cells. Some studies indicate that Vitamin A and C might also help although htere is more data needed. Moderate exercises have been shown to greatly benefit stem cells as well in aged individuals.I hope that, by now, you see that we come closer and closer to understand how aging works. And how we might slow down aging.

0:00-0:51 Intro
0:51-5:22 Discovering Stem Cells
5:22-7:50 Aging Destroys Stem Cells
7:50-10:54 How Scientists Slow Aging with Stem Cells
10:54-14:20 How We can Rescue Stem Cells

References:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
https://www.nature.com/articles/s4158...
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science...
https://www.nature.com/articles/d4158...
https://www.nature.com/articles/s4146...
https://www.nature.com/articles/s4139...
https://www.nature.com/articles/s4158...
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/s...
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
https://pubmed-ncbi-nlm-nih-gov.emedi...

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About Clemens Steinek:
CLEMENS STEINEK is a PhD student/youtuber (Sciencerely) who is currently conducting stem cell research in Germany.