Out of the 53 living supercentenarians – people over 110 year old – 51 are women . That ’s more than 95 percent ! In fact , you might say that no element comes penny-pinching to predicting the likelihood of reaching such an exceptional age than simply being female .
In most mammals the two sexes long time differently , and even though we ’ve noticed this in our own species since the mid-18th century , researchers still have n’t been capable to realise on the dot why . But we do fuck that one of the most telltale signs of aging is the functional decline of stem cells . So perhaps it ’s time to reckon at how stem cellular phone conduct dissent in humanity and women , Stanford ’s Ben DulkenandAnne Brunetargue in aCell Stem Cellpaperpublished this week . “ As the search continues for ways to meliorate the aging cognitive operation and maintain the regenerative capability of base cells , ” they save , “ let us not draw a blank one of the most effective aging modifiers : sexual activity . ”
fully grown stalk cells are regulated in a sexually dimorphic manner ( like trashy peacock butterfly feather , for exercise ) , and they react to sex endocrine . By looking at the divergence in regenerative fall , we might picture out how hormones like oestrogen and testosterone might modify life . In distaff mice , estrogen ’s effects on stem electric cell populations is pretty verbatim : It increases the number of line stem cells , which helps during gestation , and it enhances the regenerative capacity of nous stem turn electric cell at the height of oestrus ( that is , when she ’s in warmth ) . So far , no one ’s looked into the wallop these changes might have on lifespan . However , recent work with mice uncover that estrogen supplements come out to increase the lifespan of male person , and a study of human eunuch found that these men live on average about 14 years longer than non - unsexed men .
moreover , knocking out various genes in mice has sometimes result in seniority advantages for one sex but not the other . And a twinned study suggested that there might be a difference in telomere duration between males and females : these lilliputian caps at the end of chromosomes help to mean the life-time of cells . Further research is ask in gild to infer how genetics might have an encroachment on stem cell ageing in males and females and at the very least , the duo concludes , next research should emphasize the importance of see for sex in studies in which age is a variable .
Sex likely plays a character in defining not only lifespan but also the specific share of a lifespan that ’s healthy , or “ healthspan ” . The effects of sexual activity might not inevitably be the same for the two .
[ ViaCell Press release ]
