杏吧原创

Elderly rats have rediscovered their youth by eating two simple dietary
supplements sold in health food shops. If the regime works in humans, it could
make for a sprightly old age. Bruce Ames of the Oakland Children鈥檚 Hospital
& Research Institute led a team which fed the supplements to old rats for a
month or so. Acetyl-L-carnitine 鈥渞evved up鈥� the rat鈥檚 mitochondria, the energy
powerhouses of cells. And a fatty oil called (R)-alpha-lipoic acid helped the
rats mop up damaging chemical radicals created by the extra mitochondrial
activity. It made them lively enough to 鈥渄ance the Macarena鈥�, says Ames. The
team reports its results in Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences (vol 99, p 1870).