In a house that hasn't been renovated for years, old junk doesn't just take up space. It starts giving off dust and fouling the air. The same thing happens in our body: as we age, cells pile up that no longer divide but keep poisoning everything around them. Clearing them out without touching healthy cells used to be hard.
Scientists found a solution in the roots of red-root sage. Three acids from this plant kill senescent cells specifically and leave young ones alone. The secret is that these acids disable the enzyme GSTP1, which works like a burglar alarm that keeps a senescent cell from dying. Without the alarm, the cell loses its protection and dies.
In mice, treatment with these acids improved physical fitness and memory. And in old mice that started receiving the acids at 24-27 months of age, lifespan increased by 51.4%. That means compounds from sage could become the basis for drugs that help people stay healthy longer.
Salvianolic acids are not new substances. They have long been known in traditional Chinese medicine as components of red-rooted salvia, which was used for centuries to treat cardiovascular disease. Now it turns out that these same molecules may fight aging.
The idea of selectively destroying senescent cells echoes Aldous Huxley's novel Brave New World, where society fights aging with chemical drugs. In the book, though, this leads to a dystopia, whereas here it leads to hope for a healthy old age.
Not published on arXiv. Here are its page, the PDF and the formalization: you can check it yourself, not only read our account.