Two compounds improve heart relaxation in aged male mice
Two months of treatment also reduced markers of cell senescence, a state in which cells stop dividing, in aged male mice.
Limit: Treatment lasted only two months, limiting assessment of lasting improvements in heart relaxation
Edited by Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
In an animal experiment, researchers compared young and aged mice of both sexes. Aged males had lower heart levels of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, a molecule involved in cellular energy use.
Researchers gave aged male mice nicotinamide riboside or dihydronicotinamide riboside, compounds used to make this molecule, for two months. Both reduced markers of senescence, a state in which cells stop dividing. They also improved the heart’s ability to relax between beats and reduced heart muscle enlargement and scarring. Aged female mice had impaired heart relaxation without a significant decline in the molecule’s levels. Neither compound improved their heart function.
Why it matters
Heart muscle cell senescence is associated with impaired heart relaxation and heart failure in older adults. The authors emphasize considering biological sex when developing strategies that replenish this molecule to target cardiac aging.
Caveats
These animal experiments do not establish whether the compounds benefit people. The abstract does not report treatment doses or group sizes.
- Nicotinamide riboside
- Dihydronicotinamide riboside
- Cell cycle regulation
- Cellular senescence
- Diastolic dysfunction
- Mice
The paper
Department of Pharmacology
Cardiovascular Research, Oct 30, 2026
