Delay aging with Oxytocin?

LeBrok

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The love and trust hormone has unexpected rejuvenation properties according to this research:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24915299


"So when the UC team saw that oxytocin levels in the blood decreased with age, it piqued their interest. Maybe, they thought, oxytocin helps reverse the effects of aging on our bodies.
To test their hypothesis, the team injured muscles in young and old mice, then injected some of the muscles with oxytocin. Overall, the muscles in the young mice regenerated faster than the muscles in the older ones, as we would expect. But when the older mice were given an oxytocin boost, their muscles regenerated faster, bringing their regeneration rate up to the speed of youth. The young mice, on the other hand, received no added benefit from an extra shot of oxytocin, but their muscle regeneration was dramatically hampered when injected with an oxytocin receptor inhibitor. When the team looked closely at what was happening in the regenerating muscle cells, they found that oxytocin turns on a well-known cellular cascade that triggers growth and proliferation: the MAPK/ERK signaling pathway.
“Our results demonstrate that oxytocin is one of the key age-specific systemic regulators of muscle maintenance and repair,” write the authors in their conclusions. However, they’re quick to note that it’s probably not the only one. “It is unlikely that only one circulating molecule accounts for systemic aging or rejuvenation.”

Full article:
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/s...udy-shows-muscles-love-oxytocin/#.U7XkW_ldVa8

Still, any molecule that helps combat the effects of aging is a good find, especially this one—because, so far, negative side effects from oxytocin use are few and far between. What’s most exciting about this research is that oxytocin is already an FDA-approved drug, thus this work may have uncovered a novel and safe way to combat the deterioration of muscle mass, strength and agility in the elderly. As the authors explain, “the potent positive effects of oxytocin on muscle tissue homeostasis and repair that were uncovered in this study are thus promising for developing an effective and safe new clinical strategy.

I think it is a very exciting news, especially for us older geezers.
We can bug our doctor to prescribe it, or go, hug and kiss your spouse a lot
.
:grin:



 
So is it better than viagra?:LOL:
 
The young folk tell me that Ecstacy is even better than Oxy. However, I'll take their word for it.
 
That study may explain why isolated people, or older people who rarely see their children or (great)grandchildren get more health problems and die earlier than those who are surrounded by loved ones. It would also provide a clue as to the biochemical mechanism involved when an elderly person dies soon after his/her spouse had died. Mourning is partly the destruction of the oxytocin paths in the brain connected the the lost person. When a loved one dies it really is a part of us (a group of neurons) that dies.
 
That study may explain why isolated people, or older people who rarely see their children or (great)grandchildren get more health problems and die earlier than those who are surrounded by loved ones. It would also provide a clue as to the biochemical mechanism involved when an elderly person dies soon after his/her spouse had died. Mourning is partly the destruction of the oxytocin paths in the brain connected the the lost person. When a loved one dies it really is a part of us (a group of neurons) that dies.
That's right. There are also studies pointing to health benefits when people belong to tight organizations, like religious groups. This closeness helps produce Oxytocin and stay healthy longer.
Although it might be in reverse, that people with already high Oxytocin are more trusting, and easily bond to groups, have strong urge to go between people and socialize. More trusting could equal more religious. Or they are just Oxytocin adicts.
 
So is it better than viagra?:LOL:
I'm not sure how you connected these two? Viagra is only about an erection, and Oxytocin is about feeling love, trust and muscle growth. Unless you think It is a muscle. ;)
 
Bad comparison and poor choice. I make bad jokes too, sorry.
 
I'm not sure how you connected these two? Viagra is only about an erection, and Oxytocin is about feeling love, trust and muscle growth. Unless you think It is a muscle. ;)

Basically,being in love(Dopamine+Oxytocin+Serotonin) is just being a happy(Serotonin) schizophrenic(Dopamine) !
 
That study may explain why isolated people, or older people who rarely see their children or (great)grandchildren get more health problems and die earlier than those who are surrounded by loved ones. It would also provide a clue as to the biochemical mechanism involved when an elderly person dies soon after his/her spouse had died. Mourning is partly the destruction of the oxytocin paths in the brain connected the the lost person. When a loved one dies it really is a part of us (a group of neurons) that dies.
I don't know exactly how neuronal plasticity works,but I guess that mourning would essentially involve the retrieval of memories (reminiscing about the deceased) and that would in my opinion consolidate the neuronal paths rather than destroy them.

I know this may sound a bit philosophical,but I personally think that our loved ones would live in us through our memories ,or at least a part of them would .
 
I don't know exactly how neuronal plasticity works,but I guess that mourning would essentially involve the retrieval of memories (reminiscing about the deceased) and that would in my opinion consolidate the neuronal paths rather than destroy them.
Interesting conundrum of why we mourn. Perhaps through pain of loss of family members we protect the surviving members (especially kids) more, increasing their survivals?
We also have ability to imagine loss of family members even when they are still alive, and feel pain of what it would be if we lost them. Sort of prospective and preventive mourning, like preventive medicine, to make us more protective of family and kids. This imaginary, preventive mourning might be the right one, the more useful one, from evolutionary point of view. The mourning after the loss is usually more crippling and destructive for family than useful.
 
Interesting conundrum of why we mourn. Perhaps through pain of loss of family members we protect the surviving members (especially kids) more, increasing their survivals?
We also have ability to imagine loss of family members even when they are still alive, and feel pain of what it would be if we lost them. Sort of prospective and preventive mourning, like preventive medicine, to make us more protective of family and kids. This imaginary, preventive mourning might be the right one, the more useful one, from evolutionary point of view. The mourning after the loss is usually more crippling and destructive for family than useful.
Brillant LeBrok!
I have never thought of the evolutionary purpose of mourning since I haven't mourned anyone so far,but that part where you describe the process of imagining the loss of family members is very interesting,it happens to me all the time and I have a personal hypothesis on the matter.
I think that the human mind simulates those emotions to protect itself,it's basically a psychological defense mechanism that helps the mind deal with what eventually will happen sooner or later, by simulating a loss of a loved one the mind becomes more and more accustomed to these particular emotions associated with grief and that in return would help the person cope with the inevitable !
 

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