A glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist prescribed to help people manage obesity and type 2 diabetes extended the lifespan of older, healthy mice, according to a new study led by researchers in UC Berkeley’s Department of Metabolic Biology & Nutrition.
Published September 2 in Nature, the findings show that semaglutide, commonly sold as Ozempic and Wegovy, mimicked the anti-aging benefits of calorie restriction—and in some cases surpassed them. The results suggest that, in addition to delaying the onset of age-related metabolic disease, GLP-1s may act on the biological factors that contribute to physiological aging.
“We are very excited by this new study, because it could potentially broaden the application of GLP-1 medicines to healthy aging individuals to extend lifespan and healthspan,” said Danica Chen, the study’s corresponding author and a professor of metabolic biology and nutrition. Yufan Feng, a postdoctoral researcher in Chen’s lab, served as the study’s lead author.
To understand the potential impact of GLP-1s on aging, the study’s authors administered semaglutide to 20-month-old female mice for three months. Treated mice showed improved muscle and cognitive function compared with untreated mice. Genetic analysis also confirmed that several hallmarks of natural aging—including inflammation and poor regenerative capacity—were reduced in treated animals. Mice that received semaglutide injections until the end of their life lived, on average, 100 days longer than those that did not.
In a separate, five-month experiment, the researchers compared the benefits of semaglutide to a 24% reduction in calories. Mice who received the drug exhibited higher levels of exploratory behavior, better spatial memory, and improved blood-sugar maintenance than those on a calorie-restricted diet. Calorie-restricted mice had a slower metabolic rate than normal, while the metabolic rate among mice treated with semaglutide was largely unchanged.
“These differences point to the possibility that GLP-1 drugs tap into a biological pathway independent of calorie restriction,” said Chen. While there is no indication that similar results could be immediately achieved in humans, the authors add that the study may guide future research into semaglutide’s effects on human longevity.
“Uncovering this potential route and the benefits that may specifically stem from it is an important direction for future research into the development of longevity-enhancing interventions,” said Chen.
UC Berkeley co-authors include Yifei Wang, Yibing Chen, Huixian Qiu, Chih-Ling Wang, Kartoosh Heydari, and Melaine Delcroix. Additional co-authors include researchers from the University of Copenhagen and the National Institute on Aging. Funding was provided by the National Institute on Aging (#R01AG063404, #R01AG063389, and #R01AG082105) and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
Read More
- Late-life semaglutide treatment slows ageing and extends lifespan in female mice (Nature)
- Can GLP-1 drugs slow ageing? Mouse study shows promise (Nature News)
- Could GLP-1 weight-loss drugs help you live longer? (Scientific American)
- GLP-1 agonist semaglutide slows aging in mice (Chemical & Engineering News)