Scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the United States had discovered that the hypothalamus may just be the key to eternal youth as it can control the ageing process, Mail Online reports.

The hypothalamus is known as the portion of the brain that can control hunger, thirst, body temperature and fatigue and now is discovered to control the bodies ageing process.

Researchers said that the hypothalamus has an age-related signaling pathway that opens the possibility to rejecting diseases caused by ageing and possibly prolong a life span.

The research team focused in studying one protein complex in order to study hypothalamic inflammation. "Inflammation involves hundreds of molecules, and this one (protein complex) sits right at the centre of the regulatory map" explained by Senior Author Professor Dongsheng Cai. He said that "it is clear from our study that many aspects of ageing are controlled by the hypothalamus."

Experiment Yields

In order to get the actual picture, the scientists used mice as their prototype. Once the protein complex pathway was triggered, the ageing process in mice hastened, all indicators of ageing were heightened - there were decrease in the mice's stamina, size, and skin thickness.

Professor Cai said that "activating this pathway promoted systematic ageing that shortened the lifespan " But blocking this protein complex pathway delays the ageing of mice and there was 20% improvement in life span.

Also, through the study conducted in mice, the group of scientists observed that once the pathway in the hypothalamus is triggered, the levels of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) are lessen. A decrease in GnRH causes body ageing and injecting mice with GnRH protects the mice from impaired neurogenesis which highly contributes to ageing. Those aged mice injected with GnRH for an extended time shows decrease in body ageing and increase in cognitive ability.

Professor Cai thus conclude that preventing inflammation in the hypothalamus and increasing neurogenesis through GnrH injections may also increase lifespan in humans and cure age causing ailments.

In the span of the study, Professor Cai and his team observed that inflammation in the brains causes heart disease and diabetes which speed up the process of ageing and that the hypothalamus thus influence the human body .

"As people age you can detect inflammatory changes in various tissues... Inflammation is also involved in various age-related diseases, such as metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular diseases, neurological disease and many types of cancer."

Scientific studies have long been conducted for people to finally get hold the key of eternal youth and a lot of these studies have had failed in the past. But Professor Cai have high hopes in what they have recently found out because of its higher percentage of success.

"What's exciting is that it's possible - at least in mice - to alter signaling within the hypothalamus to slow down the ageing process and increase longevity. Scientists have long wondered whether ageing occurs independently in the body's various tissues or if it could be actively regulated by an organ in the body."