Quote:A hormone that is claimed to regulate the ageing process enhances memory in monkeys, raising the prospect it could be used to prevent cognitive decline in people.


One injection of the compound, called klotho, improved results in memory tests for at least two weeks in older macaques. If the treatments give similar benefits in people, it would be a major breakthrough, says Dena Dubal at the University of California, San Francisco. “Cognitive dysfunction is one of our greatest biomedical challenges.”

Klotho was discovered when the gene for the hormone was disrupted accidentally in genetically altered mice. The mice then seemed to age faster.

Made by the kidneys, this hormone seems to have multiple roles in the body, including helping to control cell replication and development. Levels of klotho in the blood gradually fall in people as they get older, so the protein was named after Clotho, one of the Fates in Greek mythology, who was said to spin the thread of life.

Klotho has also been shown to improve memory in mice – perhaps by improving the brain’s ability to form new synapses, the connections between brain cells. To investigate whether it would have the same effect in primates, Dubal’s team tested three different doses in macaques that were an average of 22 years old, which is equivalent to about 65 years in people.