New scientific research could help slow aging

SKIN created in the laboratory can be used to understand how hereditary skin diseases develop and to test potential new treatments.

Scientists from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, a non-profit British institute for genomics and genetics research, have made a discovery that could eventually be used to slow down the signs of aging. The team discovered how the human body creates skin from stem cells, and even reproduced smaller amounts of skin in laboratory tests.

The research is part of a larger study whose purpose is to discover how each individual part of the human body is created, cell by cell, writes the BBC.

In addition to the fight against aging, this discovery could also be used to create artificial skin that would be used in skin transplant surgeries and to cover up scars.

ATLAS OF HUMAN CELLS

The Human Cell Atlas Project is one of the most ambitious research programs in biology. An international team of experts, based at the Wellcome Sanger Institute in Cambridge, is working on it.

Scientists want to map and describe every cell in the human body, creating a large atlas that could transform scientific understanding of human growth and the development of disease. The purpose of the atlas is to determine all types and properties of all human cells in tissues and organs and to create a reference map of a healthy human body.

This initiative is the beginning of a new era of understanding cells. Experts discover new species and how they change over time during growth and disease.

– But scientists still don’t know how many we have, how many species and to what extent they differ from organ to organ, said one of the project leaders, prof. Muzlifa Hanifa, adding that this discovery could help scientists to treat certain diseases more effectively, but also to find new ways for people to stay healthy longer and maybe even look younger.

– If we manage to manipulate the skin and thus manage to prevent the aging process, we will have, for example, fewer wrinkles. If we manage to understand how cells change from their inception to aging in adulthood, then we will probably try to discover how to rejuvenate organs, make the heart younger or how to make our skin look younger, said Hanifa.

BY DOCUMENTING CELL CHANGES TO ORGAN REJUVENATION

This vision has already come a long way. The researchers started documenting in 2016, and have made significant progress in their studies to date. Recently, they managed to understand how the skin cells in the fetus develop during the early development phase of human life.

When an egg is fertilized, all human cells are the same, but after three weeks, specific genes within these so-called “stem cells” are switched on, passing on instructions on how to ‘collect’ them to form different parts of the body.

The researchers were able to identify which genes are turned on at which time and in which places to form the largest body organ – the skin.

Under the microscope and treated with chemicals, they look like tiny lights, so the genes that turn orange thanks to the chemicals make up the surface of the skin. Others, which get a yellow color, determine the color of the skin, and there are many others that create other structures that, for example, stimulate hair growth, allow us to sweat and protect us from external light. Scientists have managed to obtain a series of data and guidelines on the creation of human skin, which they have published article in the magazine Nejčr.

They came to know that, for example, the skin of a fetus heals without scars.

WHAT ABOUT THE SKIN OF ADULTS

The new set of guidelines details how this process works, and one area of ​​research could be particularly interesting as it focuses on whether the laboratory research can be replicated on adult skin, which would be invaluable in surgical procedures. procedures.

They discovered that immune cells play a key role in the formation of blood vessels in the skin, and then succeeded in mimicking the relevant guidelines in the laboratory.

They used special chemicals to artificially grow skin from stem cells and so far have succeeded in ‘creating’ tiny flakes of skin from which hairs have sprouted.

Prof. Hanifa points out that their ultimate goal is to perfect this technique.

– If we succeed in finding out how to artificially create human skin, we will be able to use it in patients with burns, which will be very important in tissue transplantation. And if we succeed in creating hair follicles, we can actually help people who lose hair for any reason to grow new hair, she said.

As part of the Atlas of Human Cells project, scientists have analyzed 100 million cells from different parts of the body during the eight years they have been working on this project. They have drawn up an atlas of the brain and lungs, and are now working on the kidneys, liver and heart.

(sputnikportal.rs)

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