A Sea Squirt Compound Reversed Several Signs of Aging in Old Mice

Researchers reported that adding a fatty compound found in sea squirts to the diets of old mice reversed several of the main signs of aging, with the treated animals learning faster in a memory test and growing new dark hair. The compound is a plasmalogen, a lipid that forms part of cell membranes and occurs naturally throughout the body, and the work is early-stage animal research, not a treatment shown to work in people.

The study came from a team at Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Stanford University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University and the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences. According to the researchers, it offers the first detailed look at how plasmalogens may influence the aging brain. Sea squirts, marine animals known as meongge in Korea and hoya in Japan and eaten in parts of Asia, sometimes raw, contain high levels of these compounds.

Old Mice Learned Faster and Grew Darker Hair