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Wegovy Ingredient Extended Old Mice’s Lives by 12% and Improved Their Memory

From Hankyoreh · () Korean

Translated from Korean and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • A study found that semaglutide extended the median lifespan of elderly female mice by about 12% and improved activity, memory, exercise performance and blood-sugar control.
  • The mice ate less, but semaglutide produced better results than calorie restriction in several health tests.
  • A separate study found that exenatide improved muscle and aging-related measures without significant weight loss, but did not measure lifespan.

Semaglutide, the active ingredient in Wegovy and Ozempic, extended the median lifespan of elderly female mice by about 12%, according to a study published in Nature. The mice began receiving the drug at 20 months old, an advanced age for the species.

Mice given semaglutide lived a median of 834 days, compared with 742 days for the control group. After three months, they also moved more actively in unfamiliar spaces, performed better on memory tests, maintained balance more effectively and showed improved muscle function and blood-sugar control.

The treatment was associated with lower chronic inflammation, reduced cellular senescence and greater stability in genetic material. Muscle energy production increased, while the hippocampus produced more new neurons. Researchers also observed improvements in several biological signs of aging.

Exercise and cognitive function, as well as inflammation, cellular senescence and mitochondrial energy production, all improved together.

· Seo Young-kyoThe Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology researcher described the range of aging-related measures affected in the semaglutide study.

The mice receiving semaglutide ate about 24% less than the control group, raising the possibility that reduced food intake, rather than the drug itself, explained some of the results. Researchers compared the animals with a calorie-restricted group that lost similar amounts of weight and body fat. The semaglutide group performed better in exploring new surroundings, spatial memory and blood-sugar regulation.

The lifespan experiment did not include a calorie-restricted group, so the study cannot show that semaglutide extends life more than eating less does. The health tests also involved only 10 mice per group. A separate study published last year found that exenatide improved strength and motor function in male mice without significant changes in weight or food intake, but it did not measure lifespan. The findings suggest that GLP-1 drugs may influence aging beyond appetite suppression, while leaving major questions for further research.

Semaglutide showed improvements beyond those achieved through calorie restriction alone in some physiological functions and aging markers.

· Lee Jae-minThe DGIST professor said the findings point to effects beyond reduced food intake and weight loss.
About this summary

Originally published by Hankyoreh in Korean. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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