Chinese scientists say a highly accessible and low-cost drug used to treat and prevent diabetes could hold great promise in countering the effects of ageing.
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In a 40-month study of adult male cynomolgus – or crab-eating – macaques, the researchers found that long-term administration of metformin could systematically delay organ ageing in primates, in particular delaying the effects of ageing on the brain by about six years, the equivalent of 18 years in humans.
The findings could “pave the way for advancing pharmaceutical strategies against human ageing”, according to the team from the Institute of Zoology and the Beijing Institute of Genomics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).
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China to raise retirement age by up to five years amid economic slump
China to raise retirement age by up to five years amid economic slump
The researchers – led by Liu Guanghui and Qu Jing from the zoology institute and Zhang Weiqi from the genomics institute – reported their findings in the peer-reviewed journal Cell on September 12.
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They divided the 13 to 16-year-old monkeys – the equivalent of 40 to 50-year-old humans – into two groups.