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http://www.kurzweilai.net/common-antioxidant-could-slow-symptoms-of-aging-in-human-skin
University of Maryland (UMD) researchers have found evidence that a common, inexpensive, and safe antioxidant chemical called methylene blue could slow the aging of human skin, based on tests in cultured human skin cells and simulated skin tissue.
"The effects we are seeing are not temporary. Methylene blue appears to make fundamental, long-term changes to skin cells," said Kan Cao, senior author on the study and an associate professor of cell biology and molecular genetics at UMD.
The researchers tested methylene blue for four weeks in skin cells from healthy middle-aged donors, as well as those diagnosed with progeria — a rare genetic disease that mimics the normal aging process at an accelerated rate. The researchers also tested three other known antioxidants: N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine (NAC), MitoQ and MitoTEMPO (mTEM).
In these experiments, methylene blue outperformed the other three antioxidants, improving several age-related symptoms in cells from both healthy donors and progeria patients. The skin cells (fibroblasts, the cells that produce the structural protein collagen) experienced a decrease in damaging molecules known as reactive oxygen species (ROS), a reduced rate of cell death, and an increase in the rate of cell division throughout the four-week treatment.
Next, Cao and her colleagues tested methylene blue in fibroblasts from older donors (>80 years old), again for a period of four weeks. At the end of the treatment, the cells from older donors had experienced a range of improvements, including decreased expression of two genes commonly used as indicators of cellular aging: senescence-associated beta-galactosidase and p16.
Anti-Aging Potentials of Methylene Blue for Human Skin Longevity (open, DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-02419-3) (DX)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 02 2017, @09:11AM (5 children)
...does it turn you blue?
(Score: 2, Funny) by sonamchauhan on Friday June 02 2017, @09:47AM
long live the smurfs!
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 02 2017, @01:01PM (2 children)
This is an old prank.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Friday June 02 2017, @04:49PM (1 child)
I've always wondered about that. In the pre-ALARA "As Low As Reasonably Achievable" era of chemistry you can find moldy old books joking about it.
I would theorize it would take a crapload as used some as a microscope sample stain in the 70s or 80s and yes its an interesting stain when diluted in a couple drops, but washing stuff off into a gallon makes it disappear pretty well.
I think you'd have to take quite a dose....
Kinda like a droplet of OJ is orange but a droplet of OJ in a quart of water is transparent.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 03 2017, @12:01AM
It doesn't take much of this stuff to turn a large aquarium blue. Just a couple of drops will turn a 55 gallon aquarium a nice shade of indigo.
Also, there is this: https://www.drugs.com/mtm/methylene-blue-oral-and-injection.html [drugs.com]
This is an old prank that is well known. You should do your research before naysaying.
(Score: 2) by gringer on Saturday June 03 2017, @08:22AM
Yes, in high doses:
Ask me about Sequencing DNA in front of Linus Torvalds [youtube.com]