Injection of anti-aging protein enhances memory in monkeys

Aged rhesus monkeys showed better performance in memory tests after klotho injection. This finding was recently published in the journal Nature Aging Reportedly, it could lead to new treatments for neurodegenerative diseases.

to report naturescientists have shown for the first time that restoring levels of klotho (a natural protein that decreases with aging in the body) improves cognition in rhesus monkeys.

Previous research in mice has shown that Klotho injections can increase the animals’ lifespan and increase synaptic plasticity (the ability to control communication between neurons at the junctions called synapses). Mark Bushe, a neurologist from the British Dementia Research Group at University College London, says that given the close genetic and physiological similarities between primates and humans, these results could indicate the potential applications of the studied protein in the treatment of human cognitive disorders.

In a new study, the cognitive abilities of rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) Pir was tested before and after Klotho injection. The average age of the studied monkeys was 22 years.

The researchers used a behavioral experiment to test the monkeys’ spatial memory: they hid a tasty food somewhere, and the monkeys had to remember its location in order to find the food some time later. Dena Dubal, one of the authors of the study, compares the test to remembering where to park a car in a parking lot or remembering a set of numbers you heard a few minutes ago. It becomes harder to do such things as you get older.