Health · Medical Research · 2 hrs ago
Five lifespan-extending treatments in mice share higher ergothioneine levels
A team led by researchers at the University of Michigan found a shared biological marker across five treatments that extend lifespan in mice.
The treatments were rapamycin, acarbose, canagliflozin, 17α-estradiol and calorie restriction.
Ergothioneine levels rose in the mice’s brains and blood across all five treatments; the substance occurs in fungi such as mushrooms and reaches animals through their diet.
Researchers used an AI program to compare biological patterns, and it distinguished mice given a withheld treatment from untreated mice in 33 of 35 tests.
The finding could help scientists assess anti-aging treatments by using ergothioneine as a possible marker, rather than waiting to measure lifespan.
But the study does not show that ergothioneine causes longer life, and it involved only mice.
Researchers plan to compare anti-aging drugs with drugs that do not extend lifespan to test whether the pattern is specific to longevity treatments.
Researchers found that five lifespan-extending treatments in mice were all associated with higher levels of ergothioneine.
The substance increased in the mice’s brains and blood across all five treatments.
The treatments were rapamycin, acarbose, canagliflozin, 17α-estradiol and caloric restriction.
An AI program distinguished treated mice from untreated mice in 33 of 35 tests using biological patterns.
The study found an association, not proof that ergothioneine causes longer lifespan, and it involved mice only.
- Who
- Researchers led by a team from the University of Michigan.
- What
- They found higher ergothioneine levels across five treatments known to extend lifespan in mice.
- When
- Published on 2026-11-10.
- Where
- In mice, including measurements from brain and blood tissue. The study was reported in Frontiers in Aging.
- Why
- The researchers sought shared biological patterns in treatments that extend lifespan, to better understand how longevity interventions work.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Researchers compared patterns across five lifespan-extending treatments and multiple tissue types in mice.
The team used patterns from four treatments to test whether an AI program could identify mice given the fifth treatment.
ScienceAlert published its report on the findings.
- Treatments
- Rapamycin, acarbose, canagliflozin, 17α-estradiol and caloric restriction
- Biomarker
- Ergothioneine, a natural substance obtained by animals through their diet
- Tissues
- Ergothioneine increased in brain and blood across all five treatments
- AI results
- Correctly distinguished treated mice from untreated mice in 33 of 35 tests
- Publication
- Frontiers in Aging, 2026
What people are saying
These findings reveal tissue-specific metabolic reprogramming shared across mechanistically distinct longevity interventions.
Because all five interventions extend male lifespan, this implies that validated anti-aging drugs produce sets of tissue-specific changes that resemble changes induced by other drugs in this class, as well as by calorie-restricted mice
It is possible that the patterns seen, in whole or in part, are produced whenever a mouse is exposed to chronic drug or dietary intervention