More exciting longevity news about extracellular vesicles

What's the news: Stem cell-derived extracellular vesicles rejuvenate aged mouse cells and mouse bodies.

Why should we believe it: This news is based on a study by scientists in China, which was published last month. The scientists looked at extracellular vesicles derived from stem cells and injected them into mouse cells and live aged mice. Results: various measures of significant rejuvenation, both in cell cultures and in live animals.

But what are extracellular vesicles? I wrote about EVs last week in Long Youthspan. Basically, they are little globules of material that make their way around your body. They can contain protein, lipids, DNA, RNA. Josh Mitteldorf, a longevity researcher, recently called extracellular vesicles a "universal biological language, a barely-explored medium of communication."

Why this is a big deal: As you can read below, stem cell treatments are tricky, expensive, and take a long time to develop. But the current study found that extracellular vesicles containing specific strands of RNA had big rejuvenation effects.

These EVs were derived originally from stem cells, but going forward, they may be produced directly. According to this study, these EVs result in rejuvenation on their own, even outside actual stem cells.

So what’s next: The big hope is that specific extracellular vesicles are youth-signaling molecules that tell the body to repair itself to a younger, healthier state. We already have previous results to support this idea, and the current study is one more exciting development in this direction — and hopefully, in the direction of humans soon.