AI-Summary – News For Tomorrow
Research suggests that sniffing your own odor, like picking your nose, might have surprising benefits. Building on previous findings about hydrogen sulfide’s role in cell communication and blood flow, a 2021 Johns Hopkins study found that hydrogen sulfide may reverse cognitive decline mimicking Alzheimer’s in mice. Researchers injected mice with a compound that released hydrogen sulfide, observing improvements in memory and motor function over 12 weeks. This discovery suggests that even seemingly unpleasant bodily functions may serve a purposeful design in nature, particularly in relation to aging and neurodegeneration.
News summary provided by Gemini AI.
It’s…not a pleasant thought, but maybe it’s a little like the recent research that suggested 90% of us pick our noses in private: If you sniff your stinkers for curiosity or health clues, you’re almost certainly in fair company. Now, research even suggests that when that whiff hits your brain, there could be some protective benefit.
That builds on earlier findings. In 2014, pharmacology research noted the gas plays a role in cell communication and blood flow. Then, a 2021 study at Johns Hopkins Medicine published in Proceedings of the National Academies of Science found that hydrogen sulfide may help slow or even reverse cognitive decline engineered to mimic Alzheimer’s disease in mice.
Researchers injected the genetically engineered mice with a hydrogen sulfide-carrying compound called NaGYY. The compound slowly released passenger hydrogen sulfide molecules while it traveled throughout the body. From there, the researchers tested the mice for any changes in their memory and motor function over 12 weeks.
“Our new data firmly link aging, neurodegeneration, and cell signaling using hydrogen sulfide and other gaseous molecules within the cell,” commented Bindu Paul, M.Sc., Ph.D., faculty research instructor in neuroscience in the Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
The growing discoveries may serve as evidence that even for the most seemingly undesirable bodily functions, nature has a purposeful design.
