British researchers have found the secret to ageing, providing new hope to victims of old age-related problems including cardiopathy.
 
Scientists from Newcastle University together with German specialists from the University of Ulm reportedly unlocked the secret as to how and why living cells turn old by detecting the biochemical tract involved in ageing.

Researchers said, "The study could lead to a much better chance of making a successful attack on age-related diseases."
 
The discovery could also provide an justification as to why skin matures and offer hope that novel medicines could be made to deal with diseases like heart problem and diabetes and remove undesirable side-affects from cancer.

But, the researchers stated that it would unlikely offer an elixir of eternal life in the coming time.

Prof. Tom Kirkwood, director of Newcastle University''s Institute of Ageing and Health, said, "Our breakthrough means that we stand a very much better chance of making a successful attack on age-related diseases while at the same time avoiding the risk of unwanted side-effects like cancer."

For the study, scientists utilized what they called as a complete ''systems biology'' approach involving multifaceted computer modelling and experimentations with genetically modified mice and cell cultures.

They probed why cells turn senescent, which in this state cells blocked dividing and their tissue disclosed physical indications of deterioration, from a failing heart to wrinkling skin.

The outcomes also demonstrated that when an ageing cell finds serious DNA damage that could be caused by general wear from life it sent internal signals to the brain.

These distress signals activate the cell''s "mitochondria", or its tiny energy-producing power packs, to make "free radical" molecules.

This in turn notifies the cell to either to demolish itself or stop dividing which is aimed at avoiding damaged DNA that can lead to cancer.

It also reportedly downplays the role of telomeres that are the defensive tips on the ends of human DNAs, which gradually become shorter as humans age.

"There has been a huge amount of speculation about how blocking telomere erosion might cure ageing and age-related diseases. The telomere story has over-promised and the biology is more complicated, Kirkwood said.

The study has been published by the journal Molecular Systems Biology. (With Input from Agencies)