Chronic treatment of (-)deprenyl prolongs the life span of male Fischer 344 rats. Further evidence.

Seventy male Fischer 344 (F-344) rats were treated with s.c. injection of (-)deprenyl (0.5 mg/kg, n = 35) or physiological saline (n = 35) 3 times a week from the age of 18 months until the time of their natural death. The fifty percent survival time was 28 months in control animals and 30 months in the deprenyl treated group. The mean survival time after the start of treatment (18 months) and after 24 months were 378.3 +/- 97.4 days (mean +/- SD) and 196.3 +/- 97.4 days, respectively, in deprenyl treated rats and 328.7 +/- 108.8 days and 146.7 +/- 108.7 days in control rats. The increases in average life expectancies caused by deprenyl treatment (15% from 18 months and 34% from 24 months) were both statistically significant (P < 0.05, two-tailed t-test). The average body weights were comparable for both groups but the variation of body weight was greater in control groups, thus excluding the possibility that the life prolonging effect of deprenyl results from reduced dietary intake. The results confirm those of two previous studies (1,2) which reported a significant life prolonging effect of deprenyl in aged rats and lend added support to the results of a study on male F-344 rats where the effect was only marginally significant (16% increase after 24 months, P = 0.048 by one-tailed t test) (2).