编者按：衰老和死亡是人类一生的终点，这一法则从未改变过。科幻电影中，总是有人试图获得永生，虽然只是艺术作品，但这也表现出了人类对于增加寿命的强烈渴求。其实，随着医疗条件和饮食条件的进步，现在人类的平均寿命已经比以往长了很多；可是人类似乎并不满足于此，总幻想着使用某种药物来更直接地延缓衰老。很多科研人员正在进行这一领域的研究。近日，Lindsay Wu 在 The Conversation上撰写了题为”The search to extend lifespan is gaining ground, but can we truly reverse the biology of ageing?“的文章，分析了目前有希望实现延缓衰老的各种研究，是对这一领域科学进展的一个详细综述。文章较长，但值得仔细阅读。

衰老研究

The search to extend lifespan is gaining ground, but can we truly reverse the biology of ageing?

寻求延长寿命的研究正在取得进展，但是我们是否能够真正扭转衰老的生物规律呢？

It was once a fringe topic for scientists and a pseudo-religious dream for others. But research into the biology of ageing, and consequently extending the lifespan of humans and animals, has become a serious endeavour.

延长寿命曾经是科学家的一个边缘话题，也是其他一些人的伪宗教梦想。 但是，研究衰老生物学、进而进一步延长人类和动物的寿命，已经成为一个严肃的课题。

Ageing research is often promoted as the key to the “eternal fountain of youth”, or an “elixir of immortality”. But the true promise of ageing research is that rather than tackling individual diseases one at a time, a single drug would treat all the diseases that arise in old age, at once.

衰老研究经常被推广成“永恒的青春之泉”或“不朽药剂”之关键。 但是，该研究的真正承诺是，用一种药物，一次性就可以治疗所有衰老所带来的疾病，而并非处理某个单独疾病。

There would be cost savings from keeping elderly patients out of specialist appointments for each condition. And a single health-maintaining pill would avoid the problem of drug overuse and interactions common in older people who have to medicate each condition individually.

如果内一次性治疗所有衰老所带来的疾病，老年患者不需要针对各种疾病去跑专家门诊，这可以节省很多成本。 另一方面，只服用一种药物，可以避免老年人用药过度以及药物之间的相互作用。当老年人为了治疗每种病症而需服用各种不同药物时，这种问题尤其普遍。

Antibiotics have increased life expectancy - can they be considered ‘anti-ageing’? from shutterstock.com

抗生素可以延长预期寿命——它们可以被认为是”抗衰老”的妙方吗? 图片选自shutterstock.com

The idea of extending human life makes some uneasy, as preventing death seems unnatural. Certainly, were lifespan to be drastically increased, there would be challenges in funding the old age pension, among other issues.

延长寿命的想法让人不安，因为对抗死亡似乎不符合自然现象。 当然，寿命大大增加，老年养老金等资金问题也将面临挑战。

But this is already happening. Drugs and interventions developed over the past century that have almost doubled human lifespan could be considered as anti-ageing. Think of antibiotics, which have added anywhere between two and ten years to human life expectancy. There is no debate that they are an essential part of modern medicine.

但这种情况已经在发生了。 过去一个世纪以来，在新开发的药物和其他措施的帮助下，人类的寿命几乎被翻了一倍，这也可被视为抗衰老的手段之一。 想想抗生素吧，它增加了人类两到十年的预期寿命。 毫无悬念，他们已经是现代医学的重要组成部分。

But when we talk about an anti-ageing pill, we mean one that targets the process of ageing itself. There is already a list of such drugs shown to extend the lives of lab animals. Many of these work through mimicking the effects of a near starvation diet.

但是当我们谈论抗衰老药物时，我们指的是指针对衰老进程本身的药物。 现在已经有了这样一份清单， 列出了可以延长实验室动物生命的药物。

Calorie restriction 限制卡路里摄入量

Calorie restriction has for over 80 years been the most well-studied intervention known to delay ageing.

限制卡路里摄入量是近80年来最为广为人知的抗衰老手段。

The willpower required to maintain a near starvation diet for an entire lifetime is beyond most. But regular, short term calorie restriction (such as the “5:2” diet of eating normally for five days and reducing calorie intake for two) has strong benefits for metabolic health, which helps control obesity and diabetes.