Researchers from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have discovered a way to delay aging in mice with a protein that is abundant in the blood of young mice but declines with age.

eNAMPT and the NAD salvage pathway

That protein is extracellular nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase (eNAMPT), and it plays a key role in the process that cells use to create nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD), a crucial component that they need for energy production. NAD is a coenzyme found in all living cells. It is a dinucleotide, which means that it consists of two nucleotides joined through their phosphate groups. One nucleotide contains an adenine base, and the other contains nicotinamide.