X-Message-Number: 21375
Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2003 07:50:42 -0500
From: Thomas Donaldson <>
Subject: CryoNet #21364 - #21368

For Doug Skrecky:

One of the difficulties in studying aging comes from the simple fact
that no animal has an identical metabolism to that of human beings,
and especially no animal that lives a relatively short time.

When I wrote my book on antiaging drugs I confined myself to healthy
mammals. Drugs shown to improve lifespans in unhealthy mammals,
animals that were not mammals like fruit flies or worms, etc, were
faithfully put in an appendix, in the hope that someday someone 
will actually try them out on healthy mammals.

Nor do mice, rats, or guinea pigs have metabolism close enough to
ours that we can simply identify it with our own. They're just the
closest presently available choice. And using them means A LOT FEWER
drugs than if you used fruitflies.

And that is my explanation of the failure with fruit flies of 
a treatment which worked with Caenorabditis elegans.

           Best wishes and long long life for all,

                 Thomas Donaldson

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