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הורמונים ספציפיים עשויים לשחק תפקיד באריכות ימים והזדקנות בריאה, כך עולה משני מחקרים חדשים.

חוקרים גילו הורמון מסויים - adiponectin (אדיפונקטין), בריכוז גבוה מהממוצע אצל אישה זקנה בת 100, בעוד מחקר אחר גילה כי גירוי הגוף לייצור של הורמון הגדילה הביא למרץ נעורים מחודש אצל אנשים בשנות ה-60 וה-80 של חייהם.

שני המחקרים הוצגו השבוע בקונגרס הבינלאומי לנוירואנדוקרינולוגיה שהתקיים בפיטסבורג.

במחקר הראשון, חוקרים מאוניברסיטת פולין חקרו 133 נשים בגילאים 20-102, כולל 25 נשים שהיו בגילאים 100-102. החוקרים התעניינו במיוחד ברמות האדיפונקטין של הנשים.

אדיפונקטין נוצר על-ידי רקמות השומן ועשוי להיות גורם חשוב ומכריע באריכות החיים. זהו חלבון פפטיד עם תכונות נוגדות דלקת אחרות המסייע לשמור על כלי הדם נקיים משכבות שומן. אדיפונקטין משחק גם תפקיד חשוב בחילוף החומרים, במיוחד בוויסות הכולסטרול והסוכר.

רמות נמוכות של אדיפונקטין עשויות לתרום להשמנה, עמידות לאינסולין, סוכרת או מרבצי שומן בעורקים. שילוב זה של מצבים נקרא גם תסמונת מטבולית.

החוקרים גילו שוני משמעותי בנשים בנות מאה שנה ויותר בהשוואה לקבוצות אחרות. הם גילו כי הנשים בגיל זה היו בריאות יותר מאשר הנשים האחרות.

הממצאים החשובים ביותר היו כי רמות האדיפונקטין היו גבוהות יותר במידה משמעותית אצל נשים בנות 100 ויותר וממצאים אלו עשויים להיות קשורים למצב חילוף החומרים וכן להזדקנות ולאריכות ימים.

צוות החוקרים מפולין גילה כי אצל קבוצת הנשים בת ה-100 ויותר, לא רק שנמצאו רמות גבוהות במיוחד של אדיפונקטין אלא גם רמות נמוכות הרבה יותר הן של אינסולין והן של הורמון השומן לפטין. הם גם הגיעו לניקוד טוב יותר ברמת העמידות לאינסולין ורמת הכולסטרול הכללית.

יתירה מכך, בהשוואה לנשים השמנות, לנשים המבוגרות יותר היו סימנים פחותים במידה משמעותית של לחץ דם גבוה ותסמינים אחרים של תסמונת מטבולית. בנוסף, בקרב נשים אלו היתה שכיחות נמוכה באופן משמעותי של רמות כולסטרול גבוהות ועמידות לאינסולין, שהם תסמינים לתסמונת מטבולית.

המחקר השני עסק בשיפור תפקודים פיסיים אצל אנשים מבוגרים על-ידי עלית ייצור הורמון הגדילה בגוף.

הזדקנות מתבטאת ברמה נמוכה יותר של הורמון הגדילה, שכתוצאה מכך ישנה ירידה קבועה במסת השריר, ובכוח ויכולת הפעלת השרירים. תהליך זה מסתכם ברמת חולשה ששמה סוף לחיים עצמאיים.

החוקרים, מאוניברסיטת וושינגטון דיווחו כי ניסו לקבוע אם ירידה הורמונלית ותפקודית קשורות, והאן גורוי רמות הורמון הגדילה עשויות לעזור לעצור או לשנות הדרדרות זו

Lead researcher Dr. George R. Merriam, of the University of Washington/VA Puget Sound Health Care System, said his team sought to determine if hormonal and functional declines were related, and if boosting growth hormone levels might help halt or reverse that decline.

In their study, Merriam and his colleagues studied the effect of the growth-hormone stimulator capromorelin on 395 men and women 65 to 84 years old. Capromorelin is an investigational medication developed by the Pfizer drug company.

All of the participants had some mild limitation in their physical functioning. During the year of the trial, some patients received capromorelin, while others were given a placebo.

Merriam's group found that, compared with a placebo, capromorelin, at any dose, caused an increase in growth hormone production. In clinical terms, this treatment resulted in an increase in muscle mass, improved heel-to-toe walking, and better stair-climbing ability.

"After six months people on the active drug showed improvement in tandem walking, and they continued to show improvement at 12 months," Merriam said. "At 12 months there was also a significant improvement in stair-climbing in the treatment group."

But whether capromorelin will be available commercially anytime soon is problematic, Merriam said.

"It's very difficult to get a drug for normal aging on the market, because the FDA does not consider aging to be a disease and therefore sets the bar very high," he said. "I would not consider these results conclusive. Drugs in this category may have hope for improving physical function and thereby hopefully prolonging older people's ability to live independently."

One expert is cautious about supplementing hormone levels to fight aging, because scientists simply doesn't yet understand the consequences of long-term use of these agents.

"The problems with all the hormones is that they have other effects," said Rafael de Cabo, an investigator at the Laboratory of Experimental Gerontology, part of the U.S. National Institute on Aging.

There can be many possible unintended effects, de Cabo said. "Before you can even think of giving these to humans, you have to be sure it is safe and doesn't have other implications," he said.

"Any time you try to tweak the neuroendocrine system, all the knobs are interconnected, so if you move one up or down there is an immediate response from the rest of them," de Cabo said. "It is not a golden bullet or an easy shot to fix the metabolism by a single compound."

More information

For more on healthy aging, head to the U.S. National Institute on Aging.

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