Key points from article :
Killing off aged cells might be the secret to healing jaw pain.
Joint deterioration seems related to old, damaged cells that refuse to die.
Treating mice with a combination of two senolytics (dasatinib and quercetin) removed senescent cells in the jaw joints of old mice.
Dasatinib removes senescent cells from cartilage and bones; Quercetin goes after senescent cells in blood vessels and skin.
Gave this combination to 24-month-old mice (equivalent to 70 to 80-year-old humans) thrice every 2 weeks for six weeks.
After the treatment, cells in the jaw joints looked more like the cells of 4-month-old mice (~15 to 20-year-old humans).
Cartilage was thicker and the bone smoother, making the joints look like those of much younger animals.
Rigorous large-scale clinical trials must be done before the drugs can be safely used.
“We are trying to slow down the whole aging process, to make 80-year-old people look like 50-year-olds,” - Ming Xu, corresponding author.
Study by UConn published in Aging Cell.
