Nutrition & Diet

Scientists Remove Zombie Cells to Reverse Liver Damage in Mice

UCLA scientists discovered that dysfunctional "zombie" immune cells called senescent macrophages accumulate in aging livers and drive inflammation. These cells make up only 5% of liver immune cells in young mice but 60-80% in older mice. When researchers removed them using a specific protein marker (p21-TREM2), liver damage was dramatically reversed even without changing unhealthy diets. The study found that excess LDL cholesterol can trigger these cells to become senescent, suggesting high-fat diets may accelerate biological aging throughout the body.