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| Fountain of Youth, St Augustine, Florida |
For most people, Juan Ponce de León, comes to the mind for
searching Florida for the Fountain of Youth. He never found it. Perhaps
because, most historians believe that he never went looking for it. The Fountain
of Youth search is a myth, they say. Still, he is credited with exploring the interior of
Florida and mapping the Florida coast.
Well, a few centuries later researchers at the University of
Buffalo weren’t looking for the source of that magic youth elixir either. But
they may have found it or at least its best bud… a gene called CD36.
"Scientists seeking to unlock the secrets of
cellular aging have identified a gene that triggers senescence, a phenomenon in
which cells stop dividing."
"Senescence is a natural occurrence in the life of a cell,
and researchers have sought to learn about it for a couple of reasons. First,
it’s connected to old age: Senescent cells are thought to contribute to heart
disease, arthritis, cataracts and a bevy of other age-linked conditions.
Second, a lack of senescence is a hallmark of cancer cells, which bypass this
process to replicate in an uncontrolled manner."
"The new study — published online on June 20 in Molecular
Omics, a journal of the Royal Society of Chemistry — illuminates genes involved
in cellular senescence, and highlights one in particular that seems tightly
associated with this crucial biological process."
"In experiments, University at Buffalo researchers discovered
that a gene called CD36 is unusually active in older, senescent cells."
“What we found was very surprising,” says Ekin
Atilla-Gokcumen, PhD, an assistant professor of chemistry in the UB College of
Arts and Sciences. “Senescence is a very complex process, and we didn’t expect
that altering expression of one gene could spark it, or cause the same effect
in surrounding cells.”
Peter Pan - I Won't Grow Up - Taylor Louderman - 2003
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