Aging and Stem Cell Renewal - Solution for Aging Faces

Recent research has discovered that there are very specific cells in the body that do replenish, repair, renew and replace the cells that die. This happens every second, every minute and every hour of the day. The name for these very specific cells is Adult Stem Cells. These cells have one purpose only and that is to maintain and renew the body. They are the body's life! Unfortunately, these cells diminish in amount once a person reaches their 30th birthday. That is when the body starts to age slowly but surely. As these specific cells decline, the skin will loses it freshness, elasticity is lost and facial skin starts to wrinkle. The aging face is the first to show the body's decline.

Stem Cells and Aging – What Happens When Our Stem Cells Get Old and Tired?

Do Our Stem Cells Age as We Do?

Consider the body not as a single entity but as a dynamic multitude of cells growing, changing, dying, and being born. These cells make up and replenish the bodies’ tissues and organs, acting in concert and communicating in fascinating ways to keep the body in good working order. In many tissues, adult stem cells are at the root of this process, tasked with supplying cells to maintain normal tissue function and facilitating regeneration in response to injury. It is logical then to assume that, as our bodies grow older and our organs and faculties begin to degenerate, our stem cells must be failing us.

In fact, much research has gone into uncovering what happens to our stem cells as they age. For example, hematopoietic stem cells, which produce all the cells of the blood and immune system, actually increase in number in aging adults. Unfortunately, the expansion in cell numbers is to compensate for their overall loss in functionality. Ultimately, fewer white blood cells are produced, which contributes to a deficient immune system and diminished resistance to disease and infections in the elderly.

What About Stem Cells in Our Brains?

One fascinating avenue of research focuses on what happens to stem cells in the brain as we age. Until the 1960s it was believed that we are born with our lifetime’s supply of brain cells. This dogma was broken by the discovery of neural stem cells (NSCs), which reside in certain regions of the brain.  Now we know that NSCs do have the ability to produce glia and some types of neurons in certain conditions. As NSCs age, however, their ability to regenerate lost or damaged brain cells decreases and they have a significant reduction in the number of neurons they can generate.

Fortunately, the advent of technology to identify and isolate these NSCs means we can study how they change as they age and, armed with this knowledge, begin to innovate ways to halt or reverse the aging process. Recently published research from a group at Stanford University provides fascinating new insights. Using a mouse model, the team investigated the differences in NSCs between young and old mice and found that as NSCs age they do a poor job of clearing away broken proteins that can interfere with the normal functions of the cells. Aged NSCs have an increased accumulation of protein aggregates, or clumps of broken proteins. This is striking as a number of age-related neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, are linked to a build-up of proteins that can clog up brain cells and cause them to malfunction or die.

The researchers discovered that the inability of aged NSCs to clear broken proteins impairs their activation and production of new neurons. In the study they found that artificially stimulating the protein clearing system in aged NSCs gave them a new lease on life, restoring their ability to generate neurons, and increasing the number of active NSCs in elderly mouse brains. This type of fundamental research enhances our understanding of the biology of aging and provides the scientific underpinning for potential new treatments that could improve people’s health into old age.

Learn more: Your Real Age May Be Older or Younger Than Your Years

Can We Treat Aging?

Although most research is far from the clinic, new drugs are being developed with the potential to treat degenerative age-related diseases, some by potentially promoting stem cell regeneration. It will take time and controlled clinical trials to determine the safety and efficacy of these treatments. In the meantime, some companies are harvesting and freezing young stem cells, with the hope that the cells will be useful in the future and will be able to delay or reverse aging. While this may sound appealing, at the moment, “[t]here is no way to extend anybody’s life with stem cells,” as former ISSCR President Sean Morrison said in a recent interview, and consumers should be wary until further studies have been done.

The study of stem cell aging is a field of research at the cutting edge of biomedical innovation. With incremental progress, research groups around the world are uncovering the biology of why and how stem cell function declines with age. The hope is that one day this fundamental research will be translated into treatments that enhance the health and quality of life for future generations.

Adult Stem Cell Research, Aging Faces and Anti-Aging Solutions

Since the lack of adult stem cells causes the body to age, would not the answer to anti-aging be to increase the amount of these special cells circulating in the body? According to recent research on anti-aging, adult stem cells therapy and adult stem cell nutrition, the answer is yes. Therefore, to achieve a more youthful look, it is important that these special cells be replenished in both the body as well as a person's skin care routine.

Currently there are two industries doing research on anti-aging and adult stem cells; the cosmetic industry and the science research communities

The cosmetic R & D communities continue to seek ways to develop new beauty care products and beauty creams that will be the solution for an anti-aging facial cream. They advertise their products with the promise that eternal youth is just around the corner. The next time you see an ad promoting a certain skin care product for women note how smooth and fresh the models faces look, giving the promise that 'yes, you too" can have flawless skin. It's beautiful advertising and quite effective.

However, these models are usually young and already have naturally smooth skin. So if you are a woman 35 and older, will these beauty products be the solution for your anti-aging desires? Yes and no. If you choose a treatment that includes the ability to increase your adult stem cells in your skin, then probably yes. But that kind of treatment can be expensive. If the product or treatment does not produce more adult stem cells in your skin, then the answer is no.

On the other hand, the scientific community through its research on adult stem cells has more promising news. Recent research completed by a company that specializes in adult stem cell nutrition, has developed a beauty serum that does increase the adult stem cells in facial skin. They have tested this serum on both men and women over the age of 35 and notable results are very positive. Does this mean a product has been found that will reduce wrinkles? Yes. And set back the hands of time... anti age so to speak? Only time can answer that question. However, the prognosis is promising.