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Scientists studying mice were able to reverse signs of ageing in the heart by using growth differentiation factor 11 (GDF11), which is found at higher levels in the blood of young mice.

The study was published in Cell, and Nature provides more background and quotes from the authors.

“I think it’s a stunning result that, for the first time, points at a secreted protein that maintains the heart in a young state,” says cardiologist Deepak Srivastava, director of the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease in San Francisco, California, who was not involved with the research. “That’s pretty remarkable.”

The team now plans to investigate whether GDF11 effects ageing in other tissues in mice and if it could have similar effects in humans.

Eritoran, a synthetic TLR4 antagonist, has been found to prevent influenza-induced lethality in mice, reducing lung pathology, clinical symptoms, cytokine and oxidized phospholipid expression, and viral titres.

Influenza, and in particular new pandemic strains, can cause acute lung injury by provoking an extreme immune response. Using Eritoran to block TLR signalling represents a novel approach for reducing inflammation and injury associated with influenza, and possibly other infections.

Scientists have found that a mutation in the gene encoding casein kinase Iδ (CKIδ) is associated with both the presence of migraine and advanced sleep phase. The resulting alterations (T44A and H46R) caused reduced enzyme activity.

Results of experiments on mice suggest that decreases in CKIδ activity can contribute to the development of migraine.

Ageing is a result of gradual and overall functional deteriorations across the body; however, it is unknown whether an individual tissue primarily works to mediate the ageing progress and control lifespan.

Scientists studying mice found that the hypothalamus is important for the development of ageing.

Animals lived longer than normal when they were injected with a substance that inhibited the activity of NF-κB in immune cells called microglia in the hypothalamus. Mice that received a substance to stimulate the activity of NF-κB died earlier.

Researchers at OSU have identified a negative feedback loop that regulates innate immune function through zinc metabolism in mice.

Activation of the transcription factor NF-κB is essential for innate immune function and requires strict regulation. The micronutrient zinc modulates proper host defense, and zinc deficiency is associated with elevated inflammation and worse outcomes in response to bacterial infection and sepsis.

Daren Knoell, senior author of the study and a professor of pharmacy and internal medicine at Ohio State, said:

“Without zinc on board to begin with, it could increase vulnerability to infection. But our work is focused on what happens once you get an infection – if you are deficient in zinc you are at a disadvantage because your defense system is amplified, and inappropriately so.

The benefit to health is explicit: Zinc is beneficial because it stops the action of a protein, ultimately preventing excess inflammation.”

British scientists have created an artificial bone material that supports human bone marrow-derived STRO-1+ skeletal cells.

Professor Mark Bradley told The Telegraph that it would be five years before human trials and longer before whole replacement bones could be created. The eventual aim is to have an implantable scaffold that can support new bone growth before dissolving, leaving patients with a naturally produced replacement.

Japanese scientists have found that biological clock dysfunction exacerbates contact hypersensitivity in mice.

CLOCK mutant mice showed an increased immune response that exacerbated contact hypersensitivity (CHS), suggesting that circadian rhythm might be an important factor in the regulation of CHS via corticosterone level.

Scientists at the University of Vermont found that they were able to identify lung infections by testing exhaled air.

Using secondary electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (SESI-MS) to identify volatile organic compounds in the breath of mice, the scientists were not only able to tell which mice were infected but also which strain of bacteria was involved.

Breath analysis is still at an early stage of development but offers the potential for much quicker diagnoses than culturing samples. Extensive work is required to build up a database of VOC fingerprints for different infections and to show that SESI-MS can reliably identify infections in humans.