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A blast of ultrasound waves could rejuvenate ageing cells

Treatment with low-frequency ultrasound has restarted cell division in ageing human cells and improved physical performance in old mice

By Michael Le Page

16 January 2023

A human cell (centre) during mitosis

A human cell (centre) during mitosis, the process of replication and division that creates new cells

TORSTEN WITTMANN/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Low-frequency ultrasound appears to have rejuvenating effects on animals. As well as restarting cell division in ageing human cells, it has reinvigorated old mice, improving their physical performance in tests such as running on a treadmill and making one old mouse with a hunched back move around normally again.

“‘Is this too good to be true?’ is the question I often ask,” says Michael Sheetz at the University of Texas Medical Branch, whose team …

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