Many MindedOver-the-counter vanadium salt shows anti-aging effects in old mice
University of Chicago researchers report in Nature Aging that vanadyl sulfate (VS) has senolytic activity, meaning it appears to target senescent cells. VS occurs naturally in shellfish, mushrooms and soybeans and is sold as an over-the-counter supplement. Earlier work had suggested it may help glucose processing.
The team, including senior author Jin Cheng, whose lab had built a library of nutrients, metabolites and dietary supplements, screened compounds in vitro and found 68 candidate senolytics, with VS among the top hits. In mice aged 76 weeks, 13 weeks of VS in drinking water improved hanging endurance, glucose tolerance, liver and kidney markers, and reduced fat accumulation and kidney inflammation. Senescence markers SA-β-gal, p16 and p21 fell, as did inflammatory gene expression. In male mice treated for 90 days from about 71 weeks of age, median lifespan rose from 887 to 952 days, a 7.4% increase. Aged females improved on endurance, metabolic and senescence measures, but their lifespan was not tested. VS also improved disease-related metrics in mouse models of diabetes, liver fibrosis, atherosclerosis and lung fibrosis.
In senescent fibroblasts, VS acted as a mild oxidant, promoting disulfide bond formation, protein aggregation and apoptosis. The authors link the selectivity to senescent cells accumulating oxidized glutathione because they have little glutathione reductase. Non-senescent cells responded much less.
For abundance, the appeal is a compound already sold as a supplement, which could make an aging intervention broadly accessible if it ever translates. That is a large if. The lifespan cohort was small, about 20 mice per group, and the gain barely reached statistical significance. Lifespan was shown only in males. Benefits persisted after VS was stopped, which fits senescent cell removal but does not prove it. All results are from mice and cells; no human data are reported.
Source: Lifespan.io