In search for longevity
Hendrikje van Andel-Schipper, who was born in 1890 and died at the age of 115, in 2005, free of disease and in a remarkable cognitive shape, agreed to have her body donated to science after her death.
Scientists analyzed her body, searching for clues to her long-lasting life and outstanding health and sanity.
What they discovered is that an individual’s life might depend on his or her’s cells ability to divide. In time, as we get older, these cells lose their ability to divide, ultimately leading to stem cell death and depletion.
Theoretically, if we were to inject our older selves with youthful stem cells saved from the early years of life, our life span would increase as our cells have the possibility to divide once again.
However, this theory might only apply to blood and not tissue.