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Date: Thu, 18 Oct 90 20:12:32 DNT
From: David Stodolsky <>
To: 
Subject: CRYONICS

Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: LONG LIFE DRUG
Message-ID: <>
Date: 4 Oct 89 07:22:42 GMT
References: <>
Sender: 
Reply-To:  (Margot Flowers)
Organization: UCLA Computer Science Department

In article <>  writes:
>	   Does anyone out there know about a drug, used to treat
>	Parkinson's disease, called Deprasol or Depravil or something
>	similar? I've heard, and I forget where, that it has the
>	unusual effect of extending the life-span of test animals by
>	40%. ...  Can anyone point me to some papers about this topic?

Well... I just searched medline for "deprenyl" (thanks Steve) and
"life expectancy" and of the papers it found, a few seem to be what
you're looking for.  The abstract to the second describes rat
lifetimes extended from a max of 164 weeks (average 147 weeks) to 226
weeks (average 197).  
===============

Knoll J.
     Extension of life span of rats by long-term (-)deprenyl treatment.
     Mount Sinai Journal of Medicine, 1988 Jan, 55(1):67-74.
[no abstract provided]

Knoll J.
     The striatal dopamine dependency of life span in male rats. Longevity
   study with (-)deprenyl.
     Mechanisms of Ageing and Development, 1988 Dec, 46(1-3):237-62.

Abstract: Long-term experiments on male rats revealed that better performers in
    the mating test are better learners in the shuttle box and the more active
    animals live significantly longer than their less active peers. It was
    established by the aid of (-)deprenyl, a highly specific chemical tool,
    which increases superoxide dismutase activity in the striatum, facilitates
    the activity of the nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons with utmost
    selectivity, and protects these neurons from their age-related decay, that
    the efficiency of a male rat in behavioral tests, as well as the duration
    of its life are striatal dopamine dependent functions. As a measure of
    striatal function, sexual activity was tested once a week in a group of
    male rats (n = 132) from the 24th month of their life. Because of the
    age-related decay of this function none of the 2-year-old animals displayed
    full scale sexual activity. By dividing the group equally the rats were
    treated with saline (1 ml/kg, s.c.) and deprenyl (0.25 mg/kg, s.c.),
    respectively, three times a week. In the saline-treated group (n = 66) the
    last signs of sexual activity vanished to the 33rd week of treatment.
    (-)Deprenyl treatment restored full scale sexual activity in 64 out of 66
    rats. The longest living rat in the saline-treated group lived 164 weeks.
    The average lifespan of the group was 147.05 +/- 0.56 weeks. The shortest
    living animal in the (-)deprenyl-treated group lived 171 weeks and the
    longest living rat died during the 226th week of its life. The average
    lifespan was 197.98 +/- 2.36 weeks, i.e. higher than the estimated maximum
    age of death in the rat (182 weeks). This is the first instance that by the
    aid of a well-aimed medication members of a species lived beyond the known
    lifespan maximum.

4. Rinne UK.
     R-(-)-deprenyl as an adjuvant to levodopa in the treatment of Parkinson's
   disease.
     Journal of Neural Transmission. Supplementum, 1987, 25:149-55.

Abstract: As an adjuvant to levodopa, deprenyl (selegiline) has proved to have
    a significant beneficial effect in about 50-60% of patients with a
    deteriorating response to levodopa which has become complicated by
    fluctuations in disability. The addition of deprenyl to levodopa treatment
    improves both parkinsonian disability and fluctuating responses,
    particularly end-of-dose failure. Deprenyl is simple to administer (5-10
    mg/day) and free from serious toxicity. It is possible to reduce the
    levodopa dose by 20-50% when deprenyl has been instituted, thus decreasing
    the frequency of side effects. During long-term treatment with deprenyl
    there is a clear-cut decline in the degree of therapeutic responses, due to
    the progression of the underlying Parkinson's disease. However, there is
    evidence that the life expectancy of these patients may be increased. Thus
    it is advisable to give deprenyl not only as a first adjuvant to levodopa
    in advanced patients but right from the early phase of the disease, hoping
    that it will render Parkinson's disease more benign, with long-term symptom
    control, fewer late complications and increased life expectancy.

David S. Stodolsky                  Office: + 45 46 75 77 11 x 21 38
Department of Computer Science                Home: + 45 31 55 53 50
Bldg. 20.2, Roskilde University Center        Internet: 
Post Box 260, DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark        Fax: + 45 46 75 74 01

[ See also messages #210 and #211 on deprenyl.  The Oct. 26-28 European
  Cryonics Conference (message #208) will include a presentation by
  Dr. Knoll.  Also Greg Fahy's information on aging (available from
  him for $1.00 to cover postage, etc. - see message #221) includes a
  section on deprenyl. - KQB ]

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