Long-term study of middle-aged ...( CAMBRIDGE Mass. July 3 2008 -- Sirtr...)

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., July 3, 2008 -- Sirtris, a GlaxoSmithKline company focused on discovering and developing small molecule drugs to treat diseases of aging such as Type 2 Diabetes, is included among a research team that reported in today's online edition of Cell Metabolism that mice treated at middle-age to the end-of-life with resveratrol showed an overall health improvement, including improved bone health, a reduction in cataracts and cardiovascular dysfunction, and improved balance and motor coordination.

"In this study, we wanted to determine whether or not resveratrol, which imparts many of the same health benefits as caloric restriction in mice, does so by inducing a physiology similar to dietary restriction," says study co-author David Sinclair, Ph.D., a Sirtris co-founder and Harvard Medical School Associate Professor of Pathology. "The data show that resveratrol does induce many similar pathways," says Sinclair, who is co-chair of Sirtris' Scientific Advisory Board. The study was co-led by Rafael de Cabo, Ph.D. at the National Institute on Aging and David Sinclair.

The research team began testing of mice at one year, the mouse equivalent of middle-age, as that is when a small molecule drug mimicking dietary restriction might be given to humans.

The mice were placed on different diets: a standard diet (SD); every-other-day feeding (EOD); and a high-calorie diet (HC). Mice in each dietary regime were divided into treated and untreated subgroups, with some not receiving resveratrol and others receiving different dosage levels of resveratrol.

The study showed that resveratrol induces gene expression patterns in multiple tissues that parallel those induced by dietary restriction, a diet known to slow aging and extend lifespan in rodents and dogs. The study also found a significant increase in lifespan in both the resveratrol treated group on a high-calorie diet and the resveratrol treated group on a calorie re
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