Hypertension Hydralazine can apparently prolong life significantly

Old blood pressure medication increases life expectancy in model organisms

The quest for eternal youth is widespread and many people try to look younger with cosmetic aids. Medical research has been looking for years at ways to slow down cell aging. Now scientists have discovered that the blood pressure drug Hydralazine prolongs the life of a model organism by 25 percent. If the same effect were to be achieved in humans, we could get about twenty years older by taking the drug.

Hydralazine is approved for the treatment of high blood pressure, but it is due to the threat of side effects hardly used as an antihypertensive agent. Rather accidentally discovered scientists now that the drug also extends the lifespan of two roundworm species of the strain C. elegans. These worms are often used in gerontology research. Their life phase increased by 25 percent when using hydralazine, the researchers report. They attribute this to the improved stress resistance of the worms. The scientists published their findings in the journal "Nature Communications".

The blood pressure medication hydralazine protects the brain from oxidative stress and extends the lifespan of the model organism C. elegans. (Image: Tatiana Shepeleva / fotolia.com)

Hypertension drug tested on model organisms

The researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, said they were originally looking for biomarkers of oxidized and toxic brain proteins. In their search for a substance that can cross the blood-brain barrier and is non-toxic to humans, they came across hydralazine. In further investigations, the hypertension drug led to a significant extension of the life span in two strains of the model organism C. elegans, according to the UT Southwestern Medical Center. This is believed to be due to activation of genes that protect cells from oxidative stress.

Protection against oxidative stress

Oxidative stress is one of the hallmarks of aging and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. Hamid Mirzaei. The NRF2 pathway protects human cells from this oxidative stress, and SKN-1, a transcription factor of C. elegans, is equivalent to NRF2 in humans, the study lead continued. These transcription factors affect a variety of antioxidant defense mechanisms in the cells, suggesting that the body's declining ability to break down the harmful oxygen radicals can be counterbalanced by controlling the NRF2 pathway.

Protective effect in the brain

The hypertension drug increased the activation of NRF2 and SKN-1 in the experiments and increased the lifespan of C. elegans by 25 percent (from 15 to 18 days to about 20 to 23 days). To test the efficacy of hydralazine in neurodegenerative diseases, the scientists also administered to worms a high dose of the chemical stressor rotenone, which is associated with an increased risk of Parkinson's disease in humans when exposed to high doses. The worms were largely resistant to the poison by hydralazine Mirzaei. In addition, hydralazine has also shown a significant decrease in tau toxicity in the C. elegans model of Alzheimer's disease.

The prospect of new treatment approaches

"Age-related neurodegenerative diseases are devastating and their spread is increasing due to the increase in life span of humans," Dr. Mirzaei. Therefore, it is important to develop new treatment approaches that maintain health as long as possible. "Based on the latest results, we see Hydralazine as a good candidate for clinical trials in the treatment of age-related human diseases, as it can provide general health benefits to the aging population," the study director concluded. (Fp)