Abstract
In 2009, rapamycin was reported to increase the lifespan of mice when implemented later in life. This observation resulted in a sea-change in how researchers viewed aging. This was the first evidence that a pharmacological agent could have an impact on aging when administered later in life, i.e., an intervention that did not have to be implemented early in life before the negative impact of aging. Over the past decade, there has been an explosion in the number of reports studying the effect of rapamycin on various diseases, physiological functions, and biochemical processes in mice. In this review, we focus on those areas in which there is strong evidence for rapamycin’s effect on aging and age-related diseases in mice, e.g., lifespan, cardiac disease/function, central nervous system, immune system, and cell senescence. We conclude that it is time that pre-clinical studies be focused on taking rapamycin to the clinic, e.g., as a potential treatment for Alzheimer’s disease.
Highlights
Rapamycin is a macrocyclic lactone produced by Streptomyces hygroscopicus, which was isolated from soil samples collected from Easter Island by Georges Nogrady in the late 1960s [1]
There has been an explosion in the number of reports studying the effect of rapamycin on aging and age-related diseases, and there have been several reviews describing various aspects of rapamycin on aging [7,8,9,10,11]
In the 10 years since the initial report that rapamycin increased the lifespan of mice, there has been an explosion in the number of reports studying the effect of rapamycin on various parameters related to aging in mice
Summary
Rapamycin ( known by the trade names of sirolimus or rapamune) is a macrocyclic lactone produced by Streptomyces hygroscopicus, which was isolated from soil samples collected from Easter Island by Georges Nogrady in the late 1960s [1]. Old male C57BL/6 mice (24 months) were treated with rapamycin for 4 or 20 months Both groups of mice showed improved survival to pneumococcal pneumonia and reduced lung pathology; the increased survival was not statistically significant for the mice given rapamycin for 20 months. In studying the effect of rapamycin on various aspects of cardiac function in old mice, Lesniewski et al [111] found that rapamycin treatment (14 ppm) for 6 to 8 weeks reversed the agerelated increase in the senescence marker, p19, in the aorta of old (~ 30 months) male B6D2F1 mice. A study with human subject > 40 years of age by Chung et al [112] showed that the topical rapamycin reduced cellular senescence (p16INK4A expression) in the skin that was accompanied by an improvement in the clinical appearance of the skin
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
