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As we grow older, stem cells, throughout our bodies gradually lose their capacity to repair damage. Researchers now have an explanation of this decline, according to a new study. 

According to researchers, as muscle stem cells age, their reduced function is a result of progressive increase in the activation of a specific signaling pathway. These pathways transmit information to a cell from the surrounding tissue. The identified culprit is called the JAK/STAT signaling pathway. 

 "What's really exciting to our team is that when we used specific drugs to inhibit the JAK/STAT pathway, the muscle stem cells in old animals behaved the same as those found in young animals," said Dr. Michael Rudnicki, a world leader in muscle stem cell research, in the press release. "These inhibitors increased the older animals' ability to repair injured muscle and to build new tissue."

While this discovery is still at early stages, Dr. Rudnicki's team is exploring the therapeutic possibilities of drugs to treat muscle-wasting diseases such as muscular dystrophy. The drugs used in this study are commonly used for chemotherapy, so Dr. Rudnicki is now looking for less toxic molecules that would have the same effect, the press release mentioned.

The findings of the study were published in the journal Nature Medicine.