There are trillions of cells in our body and they are dividing all the time to keep us healthy and alert.
The process is controlled by genes located on 23 pairs of chromosomes in the nucleus of each cell.
Chromosomes are long sequences of DNA that contain our genetic material.
Each pair of chromosomes contains the genetic information from the father and mother and are twisted into a structure called a double helix.
Of particular interest to science are the ends of each chromosome, called telomeres.
Telomeres have no genetic function, they are simply stretches of DNA (repeats of base pairs) to protect the rest of the chromosome.
These small pieces of DNA are crucial for healthy cell function and are compared to the cap at the end of a shoelace because they prevent the chromosome from “fraying”.
However, the telomeres become shorter with each cell division. If they become too short, the cell reaches the senescence stage and can no longer divide. This result is associated with the various conditions of aging.
The phenomenon of cell aging was first described by Prof. Lenhard Hayflick in 1961. He discovered that cells only divide a limited number of times. This is called the Hayflick limit. Cells that reach this limit become old. Although Prof. Hayflick discovered this scientific principle, he had no idea of its significance.
It took almost 30 years until the role of telomeres in cell aging was finally understood.
In 1990, Calvin Harley at McMaster University in Canada and Carol Greider at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in the USA discovered that telomere shortening goes hand in hand with the aging process and that the direct cause of cellular aging is the reaching of the Hayflick limit.
In 1984, scientists Carol Greider and Elizabeth Blackburn discovered a human enzyme called telomerase, which maintains telomeres and can actually restore their short ends to their original length.
Together with Jack Szostak, these researchers received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2009 for their discoveries about the connection between telomeres, telomerase and aging.
These facts encouraged many researchers to study telomeres and telomerase as the key to our longevity. Scientists at Geron Corporation, a biotech company in California, abstracted an extract from the root of the Chinese plant Astragalus membranaceus moench, which activates telomerase and thus supports "dormant" or "senescent" cells.
This is TA-65.
