8/17/2011 PERMALINK
Existing drug found to rejuvenate the 'power plant' of your cells to youthful levels.. Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have found a protein normally involved in blood pressure regulation in a surprising place: tucked within the little 'power plants' of cells, the mitochondria. The quantity of this protein appears to decrease with age, but treating older mice with the blood pressure medication losartan can increase protein numbers to youthful levels, decreasing both blood pressure and cellular energy usage. The researchers say these findings point the way to new treatments for mitochondrial–specific age-related diseases like diabetes, hearing loss, frailty and Parkinson's disease.
'We've identified a functional and independently operated system that appears to influence energy regulation within the mitochondria,' explains Jeremy Walston, M.D., professor of geriatric medicine at Hopkins. 'This mitochondrial angiotensin system is activated by commonly utilized blood pressure medications, and influences both nitric oxide and energy production when signaled.'