Study indicates that semaglutide can increase longevity in mice

Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley treated elderly mice with semaglutide, a substance used in weight loss medications, and observed that they lived, on average, 12% longer than those who did not receive the medicine.

More than that: the treated animals also showed fewer signs of age-related deterioration in almost all aspects assessed, from memory to muscle strength, including molecular markers linked to cell aging.

It is important to say that the study is the beginning of an answer, but that clinical research is still needed to confirm these results.

The scientists used 20-month-old female mice. One group received daily injections of semaglutide, and the other received just a solution without the drug, used as a comparison.

Survival monitoring involved 79 animals in total. The females who took the medicine had a median survival of 834 days, compared to 742 days in the group that did not receive the treatment.

Other groups of animals were used to investigate, in detail, what happened in their bodies during treatment — in tests of memory, strength, motor coordination and in exams that evaluate the functioning of cells.

To understand what was behind the results, the researchers analyzed a series of biological processes that scientists often use as markers of aging — signs that appear in cells and tissues as the body ages.

Mice treated with semaglutide showed less tissue inflammation, fewer "senescent" cells (those that have lost the ability to divide and start releasing substances that harm surrounding tissues) and less evidence of DNA damage.

The medicine also appeared to improve the functioning of mitochondria, structures responsible for producing energy within cells, and increased the formation of new neurons in a region of the brain linked to memory, the hippocampus.

Furthermore, the treated animals had changes in genes associated with longevity, including an increase in molecules called sirtuins — already studied for years for their role in regulating aging in different organisms.

However, the researchers warn that the data is still limited and that more advanced research is needed to understand whether the finding also applies to humans.