The drug rilmenidine, used to treat high blood pressure, improves health markers in animals and may slow aging, a new study has revealed.
In the investigation, whose results were recently published in aging cellthe researchers found that the drug increased longevity by about 20% in worms C. elegans. These live, on average, a maximum period of 30 days, but those who consumed the medicine lived 20% longer.
According to a study, coordinated by researcher João Pedro Magalhães, from the University of Birmingham, in the United Kingdom, rilmenidine also slowed down the aging of worms, improving their mobility or food intake.
As explained by the expert, quoted by the Publicit was already known that the drug in question could activate autophagy, a complex system of recycling and self-destruction of the cells that protect us. It could also be used as a treatment for neurological and neurodegenerative diseases in mice.
In this new study, researchers found that in worms C. elegans and mice, the effects of rilmenidine are similar to those of caloric restriction, a diet that may have anti-aging effects. In humans, studies have shown that it can have side effects.
To observe these similarities, the team experimented with animals that were subject to caloric restriction; with others who had only consumed the drug; and with others who took the drug and were subject to caloric restriction.
Individually, the drug and caloric restriction effects were similarbut together they did not increase longevity, which suggests that they work with the same biological mechanisms.
By being able to mimic the effects of caloric restriction, the drug may provide an anti-aging strategy. “Identifying compounds and drugs that mimic caloric restriction without side effects is of great interest”, noted João Pedro Magalhães.
The team was also able to show that rilmenidine possibly increases longevity and improves health by activating autophagy. First, there was an increase in autophagy in worms. Afterwards, when autophagy was “turned off”, longevity stopped increasingeven with those who had consumed the drug.
This new study may open new opportunities to carry out clinical trials in humans and reuse rilmenidine for a different purpose than the current one. The researcher stressed that this is important because, as far as is known, it is generally a safe drug with side effects that are not serious.
“Based on our results, we think that rilmenidine could potentially be a new anti-aging strategy,” said the researcher. “If we could slow down aging, even just a little bit, health benefits would be immense“, he added.
The scientist also said that the repositioning of drugs that can increase longevity can have immense potential to improve health in old age.
“Of course, more studies are needed, namely clinical trials in human beings, but our work opens the door to using rilmenidine to treating other diseases associated with aging“, concluded the researcher.
ZAP // 
