Study summary · research use only
Effect of Epitalon on biomarkers of aging, life span and spontaneous tumor incidence in female Swiss-derived SHR mice
Plain-language summary
Paraphrased from the published abstract below — not a verdict on whether anything works.
In this mouse study, female outbred SHR mice were injected subcutaneously for 5 consecutive days each month from age 3 months until death with saline or 1.0 microg/mouse (approximately 30-40 microg/kg) of the tetrapeptide Epitalon (Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly), 54 mice per group. The authors report that Epitalon did not change food consumption, body weight, or mean life span, but slowed the age-related loss of estrous function and decreased chromosome aberrations in bone marrow cells by 17.1%. It was associated with a 13.3% increase in the life span of the last 10% of survivors and a 12.3% increase in maximum life span, no change in total tumour incidence, and a 6.0-fold lower leukemia incidence. The authors interpret the data as suggesting geroprotector activity.
Abstract
From the age of 3 months until their natural deaths, female outbred Swiss-derived SHR mice were subcutaneously injected on 5 consecutive days every month with 0.1 ml of normal saline (control) or with 1.0 microg/mouse (approximately 30-40 microg/kg) of tetrapeptide Epitalon (Ala-Glu-Asp-Gly) dissolved in 0.1 ml saline. There were 54 mice in each group. The results of this study show that treatment with Epitalon did not influence food consumption, body weight or mean life span of mice. However, it slowed down the age-related switching-off of estrous function and decreased the frequency of chromosome aberrations in bone marrow cells (by 17.1%, P<0.05). It also increased by 13.3% the life span of the last 10% of the survivors (P<0.01) and by 12.3% the maximum life span in comparison with the control group. We also found that treatment with Epitalon did not influence total spontaneous tumor incidence, but inhibited the development of leukemia (6.0-fold), as compared with the control group. The data obtained suggest a geroprotector activity of Epitalon and the safety of its long-term administration in mice.
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