It goes without saying that aging comes with a host of problems. You become weaker. Your muscles too. They grow less strong with age. But what if we could repair them with stem cells? Scientists at the Baxter Laboratory for Stem Cell Biology have successfully used stem cells to repair muscles in aging mice, making them stronger.

Stem cells hold a lot of promise. It's been in the news for restoring sight to a blind man to treating genetic diseases to creating beating heart muscles. The cells generally come from the same patient so there’s no worry about the body rejecting them.

Researchers extracted specific stem cells from old mice and administered a drug combined with a hydrogel on the cells and ordered them to grow and make copies, which they did.

They inserted the cells back into the old mice where they stimulated existing muscle cells and brought them back to a younger and healthier state.

The research could have major implications in muscle regeneration, repair and rehabilitation programs if successful on humans in the future.

[Singularity Hub, Image via Wiki Commons]