Health: Bard's words echoed in key to ageing process

`For in that sleep of death what dreams may come when we have shuffled off this mortal coil, must give us pause' - Hamlet's reference to `mortal coil' in the `To be or not to be' soliloquy may turn out to hold the key to immortality, reports Clare Garner.

Scientists have discovered that Shakespeare's "mortal coil" actually exists - and could provide the answer to controlling ageing, they announced yesterday.

The "coil" is a spiral of DNA which becomes detached and replicates inside a cell until the cell is overwhelmed and dies.

Scientists have identified the phenomenon in ageing yeast cells. They believe the same mechanism may be at work in cells of higher organisms, possibly even humans, and that blocking the process may one day provide a way of holding back or halting the ageing process.

The breakthrough is the culmination of a series of important discoveries about ageing to emerge from studies of yeast by scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The latest findings were published yesterday in the journal Cell.

The scientists, led by Professor Leonard Guarente, wrote: "It is remarkable that this mechanism of ageing in mother yeast cells is so simple at a molecular level. It is conceivable that inhibitors of this [ageing] process can be found, and if so, such strategies might eventually prove useful in forestalling ageing in yeast and, perhaps, in higher organisms."

Their research shows that during a yeast cell's life, whenever a particular coiled piece of DNA pinches off a chromosome it begins to replicate. The coiled fragments, known as ERC (extrachromosomal ribosomal DNA), multiply within the nucleolus, a vital structure at the very heart of the cell, which produces the raw material for the cell's protein making machinery.

Eventually, the nucleolus is so stuffed with ERC coils that it becomes blown up and fragmented. The cell's ability to replicate DNA breaks down and the cell dies.

The researchers said that their data suggested accumulation of the cellular "mortal coils" could be like a time bomb. When a certain time is reached - when enough coils have been replicated - the cell is killed. Professor Guarente said: "The best part is, it's obvious it's a clock. Set the clock early and the alarm rings early."

Damage to the cell may set the clock ticking, suggesting that, ironically, production of the fatal ERCs could result from the cell's attempt to repair itself. But the mechanism also appears to be inherited. The researchers thought it likely that ERCs could form in "stem" or "progenitor" cells in mammals. These are primitive cells from which mature cells form and are found in organs such as the skin, kidney, and liver, as well as the bone marrow and blood.

National Health Service funds in Scotland are to be reviewed to determine whether resources can be more fairly distributed to reflect the needs of local populations, the Government has announced. One of Britain's leading microbiologists Professor John Arbuthnott, will chair the steering group set up to consider the sharing out of funds across the whole spectrum of NHS care.

The Scottish health minister Sam Galbraith, in announcing the group, said that ensuring fairness in the distribution of funding was "fundamental to the renewal of the NHS in Scotland". Mr Galbraith added: "This steering group will have a challenging task in seeking to achieve a sharing of health funds which is as fair as possible to all parts of Scot- land.The current formula used for distributing some of these resources is now 20 years old and it is high time we reviewed it."

The review is also set to include the distribution of funds to GPs, dentists, opticians and spending on prescriptions. This, said Mr Galbraith, would be in addition to money for hospitals and community health services. "It is important we take a strategic look at how the cake is cut across the board," he added.

Professor Arbuthnott, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Strathclyde, said that he welcomed the challenge of leading the steering group which "has a key role in shaping the future of the NHS in Scotland".

He has previously held posts as Professor of Microbiology at Nottingham University and at Trinity College Dublin, and is at present a member of the Board of the Public Health Laboratory Service. His colleagues in the steering group will be announced in the new year.