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The human aging process was reversed in a groundbreaking study, the scientists said.
The researchers used a form of oxygen therapy to reverse two key markers of aging: telomere length and the accumulation of senescent cells.
![Scientists in Israel used one form of oxygen therapy on 35 volunteers](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/NINTCHDBPICT000620935121.jpg)
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![Participants were placed in a pressurized chamber that induced a state of hypoxia or oxygen deficiency](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/NINTCHDBPICT000620930603.jpg)
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As people age, telomeres – the protective caps found at the ends of chromosomes – shorten and there is an increase in old, malfunctioning senescent cells.
Scientists conducted a clinical trial on 35 adults over the age of 64 to see if a method called hyperbaric oxygen therapy could prevent these two indicators of the aging process from deteriorating.
Volunteers from Tel Aviv University and Shamir Medical Center in Israel were placed in a pressurized chamber and received pure oxygen for 90 minutes every day, five days a week for three months.
After the experimentation, the scientists found that the participants’ telomeres had increased in length by an average of 20%, while their senescent cells had been reduced by up to 37%.
Animal studies have shown that the removal of senescent cells prolongs the remaining life by more than a third.
The researchers said this was the equivalent of what their bodies looked like on a cellular level 25 years ago.
Shai Efrati, professor and co-author of the study, said: “As telomere shortening is considered the ‘Holy Grail’ of the biology of aging, many pharmacological and environmental interventions have been extensively explored in hopes of enabling telomere lengthening. .
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“The significant improvement in telomere length shown during and after these unique HBOT protocols provides the scientific community with a new basis for understanding that aging can, in fact, be targeted and reversed at the basic cellular biological level.”
Many scientists believe aging itself is responsible for serious conditions such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, arthritis, cancer, heart disease and diabetes.
The results are the latest in a series of possible anti-aging treatments that seek to increase life expectancy by making people look younger.
The head of a biotech company became “patient zero” in 2015 after undergoing gene therapy that, she says, could make permanent changes to her DNA and fight muscle loss and other age-related conditions.
BioViva CEO Liz Parrish has been criticized by scientists for her experimental drug test, but said she has increased the length of her telomeres in the five years since therapy.
In the trial in Israel the volunteers did not undergo any changes in lifestyle, diet or medicine, which were found to have a moderate effect on a person’s biological age.
The effects are thought to be due to a pressurized chamber that induced a state of hypoxia, or oxygen deficiency, which triggered cell regeneration.
“Until now, interventions such as lifestyle modifications and strenuous exercise have been shown to have some inhibiting effect on the shortening of the expected telomere length,” said Dr. Amir Hadanny, co-author of the study.
“However, what is noteworthy in our study is that in just three months of therapy, we were able to achieve such significant telomere lengthening, at rates well beyond any available intervention or style modification. life”.
The research was published in the journal Aging.
![The hyperbaric chambers of the Sagol Center for Hyperbaric Medicine and Research at Shamir Medical Center](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/NINTCHDBPICT000620931659.jpg)
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