For the past few years we’ve been following, and reporting on, the exciting research revealing how rapamycin seems to slow aging of the ovaries, enhance fertility, and slow (or even reverse) menopause.
These rapamycin clinical studies are being done by Yousin Suh, a professor of reproductive sciences at Columbia University and Zev Williams, associate professor of women’s health and the chief of the division of reproductive endocrinology and infertility at Columbia University Irving Medical Center.
Dr. Suh has said that early results are suggesting that it was realistic to hope the drug could decrease ovary aging by 20% without women experiencing any of the side-effects rapamycin can have, which range from mild nausea and headaches to high blood pressure and infections. In fact, Suh said, participants in the randomised, placebo-controlled study had self-reported improvements in their health, memory, energy levels and in the quality of their skin and hair: health improvements consistent with other studies into rapamycin that have suggested the medication can increase lifespan by 9-14% (or as high as 28% in some studies) while revitalising the immune system and organs that deteriorate in old age.
Well, it turns out that some professionals are already moving these early research findings into the clinic.
In this podcast with Dr.Aimee Eyvazzadeh (who runs a fertility clinic in San Ramon, CA) describes her own experiences with rapamycin, and how she is prescribing it to women to help with their fertility. She conveys that she has about 80 patients on rapamycin, and frequently is seeing significant benefits with rapamycin. If this is an area of interest to you, I encourage you to listen to the podcast.
For the better part of a year I’d been taking 5mg a week before getting pregnant, but of the crappy siroboon which should be no better than the compounded version used in the latest trial, therefore equivalent to roughly 1.5mg. BUT I chugged it with GFJ so probably brought the effective dose close to the 5mg it was supposed to be. Perhaps TMI but the OB who delivered my baby waxed eloquent on how healthy the placenta looked. She examined it to satisfy her prurient fascination and my husband’s while I cringed a few feet away. I did take l-arginine that’s supposed to help with the vascularizarion of the placenta for what it’s worth, and a ton of choline and omega 3s, but all in all, my unintentional pregnancy at age 37 while on roughly 5mg / week (effective dose) of rapa for a year prior has been a success. The baby came out with a full head of hair and looking very “finished” in the little details, extremely well made, if I may say so myself as the mom (I get plenty of validation from strangers to this effect ).
The OBGYN (Dr. Aimee) in this video says she prescribes 2.5mg of rapamycin per week. (the 2.5 mg dose is a little odd, since it doesn’t typically come in that dose. perhaps she’s using a compounding pharmacy, which brings up other issues around bioavailability… since most compounded rapamycin isn’t properly packaged.
This new research paper looks like it might be related to the benefits of rapamyin in fertility:
The key to inducing this embryonic pause lies in manipulating a cellular pathway known as mTOR (mechanistic target of rapamycin). By inhibiting mTOR activity, the researchers were able to dramatically slow down the development of human “blastoids” – lab-grown structures that closely mimic early-stage embryos. These blastoids, created using human pluripotent stem cells, provide an ethical alternative to studying actual human embryos while still offering valuable insights into early development.
When treated with mTOR inhibitors, the blastoids entered a state of dormancy that could be maintained for up to eight days. During this time, cell division slowed to a crawl, and the embryo-like structures showed reduced metabolic activity. Remarkably, when the inhibitors were removed, the blastoids “woke up”and continued their development as if nothing had happened.
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