Record Holders

Latest Mprize Winners

	Longevity Prize	Rejuvenation Prize
Mouse	GHR-KO 11C	6 Mice (from cohort of 60)
Researcher	Andrzej Bartke	Steve Spindler
Intervention	Growth Hormone Receptor Gene Knockout	Caloric Restriction
Treatment Begun	Germline (transgenic)	19 months
Age at death	1819 days	1356 days (average)
Information	Study Abstract	Study Paper

As of 21st November 2004, the Rejuvenation Prize replaced the Reversal Prize, which was awarded on November 9th 2004 to Sandy Keith in recognition of Charlie, a mouse that lived to 1551 days of age with no treatment at all, whether genetic, dietary or pharmacological. For details of the Reversal Prize and photos of Charlie, see here. The animal husbandry which helped to extend the lifespan of Charlie is not considered a 'treatment' in the biological sense. However, the 'enriched environment' to he was subjected to and which resulted in his longevity is a regimen which could be applied to cohorts of mice undergoing other interventions. It is feasible that the mice of Steve Spindler would have had even longer lifespans had they been subjected to the same stimuli as Charlie. This question is currently being addressed by researchers and it will be interesting to see the results.

More information on enriched environments.

Of Mice and Lifespan

Laboratory mouse strains used for experimental work throughout biology, including the biology of aging, are almost all members of the species Mus musculus. They have been kept in captivity for at least a few hundred generations, and this has resulted in strong selection for rapid growth and breeding, which has tended to make them short-lived compared to Mus musculus in the wild. It has also resulted in a wide varation in lifespan between different (inbred) laboratory strains, many of which live less than two years on average as a result of some congenital deficiency or other. For useful studies of lifespan it is very important to minimise these effects, so most studies are done on strains with relatively long lifespans. The one most often used is called "C57Bl/6", which normally lives about three years without any life-extending intervention. Mice whose grandparents were captured in the wild can live nearly four years on average, so even C57Bl/6 is not as good as new. It must also be stressed that other species of mice, such as Peromyscus leucopus, live a lot longer than Mus musculus. Mus musculus is useful in lab work because it has been used for a long time and there are lots of clever tools for doing genetic experiments on it, and also in gerontology precisely because it doesn't live all that long, so a life-extending intervention can be tested in a reasonable time.