|
Researchers are building as ever increasing amount of evidence supporting the idea that as our bodies age, there is an accumulation of cells that cease to function normally. But rather than simply dying, these ‘non-functional’ cells shut down and enter a state which is refered to as ‘senescence‘. And scientists have also discovered that these senescent cells are not completely dormant. They are still active, but their activity can be of a rather negative flavour. And new research from the suggests that these senescent cells could potentially explain certain aspects of Parkinson’s. The good news is that a novel class of therapies are being developed to deal with senescent cells. These new drugs are called senolytics. In today’s post, we will discuss what is meant by senescence, we will review the new data associated with Parkinson’s, and we will consider some of the interesting senolytic approaches that could be useful for PD.
|
This is not my living room… honest. Source: Youtube
Humans being are great collectors.
We may not all be hoarders – as in the image above – but everyone has extra baggage. Everybody has stuff they don’t need. And the ridiculous part of this equation is that some of that stuff is kept on despite the fact that it doesn’t even work properly any more.
The obvious question is:
Why do we hold on to stuff long after we don’t use it anymore?
Oh, and don’t get me wrong – I’m not talking about all that junk you have lying around in your house/shed.
No, I’m referring to all the senescent cells in your body.
Huh? What are senescent cells?
The Science of Parkinson's 