Ageing: GLP-1R-activating drug linked to improved health and ageing outcomes in female mice (Nature)
3 September 2026
Ageing female mice that received the glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor (GLP-1R)-activating drug semaglutide (the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy) show improved physical, metabolic and cognitive function, and extended lifespan, according to a study published in Nature. The findings suggest that some of these outcomes may overlap with those of calorie restriction, an intervention associated with improved health and longevity in several species, although the authors also report effects beyond those attributable to reduced calorie intake alone. Whether GLP-1R-activating drugs have similar effects on ageing and lifespan in humans remains to be investigated and will require long-term clinical studies.
Drugs that mimic the activity of the gut hormone GLP-1, through the activation of the hormone receptor, can help to regulate appetite and insulin release. Such drugs are primarily used to treat type 2 diabetes and obesity, but are also linked to other health benefits, including reductions in cardiovascular, kidney and liver disease burden, as well as effects relevant to neurodegenerative disease. However, the underlying biological basis of these outcomes is unclear. Restricting calorie intake is associated with health and longevity benefits; as drugs that activate GLP-1R help to reduce calorie intake, Danica Chen and colleagues investigate whether reduced calorie intake might help explain the range of other health benefits reported for these drugs.
Ageing female mice (aged 20 months) received either semaglutide or saline solution (control) and were divided into groups to study lifespan and health outcomes until the end of their lifespan. Continued semaglutide treatment extended lifespan; the median lifespan of mice who received semaglutide was 834 days compared with 742 days for control mice. Mice who received semaglutide for three months showed improved physiological and cognitive function, including increased movement and exploratory activity in novel environments compared with their control counterparts. The mice who received semaglutide also displayed reduced markers of several hallmarks of ageing — including genomic instability, inflammation, cellular senescence (in which cells stop dividing), mitochondrial dysfunction, impaired regulation of proteins and ageing-associated stem-cell dysfunction — compared with control mice. The authors report increased markers of neural stem-cell activity and the formation of new neurons in a region of the brain called the dentate gyrus, adding to previous evidence that GLP-1 medicines may have effects relevant to neurodegenerative disease.
These findings may help to explain some of the additional benefits associated with GLP-1R activation, some of which may overlap with calorie-restriction-associated effects, the authors conclude. However, they emphasize that long-term clinical studies designed to evaluate ageing-related outcomes in older populations, especially those who have not been diagnosed with obesity or age-related disease, are needed to determine whether GLP-1R activation modulates ageing and lifespan in humans.
- Article
- Open access
- Published: 02 September 2026
Feng, Y., Barthez, M., Wang, Y. et al. Late-life semaglutide treatment slows ageing and extends lifespan in female mice. Nature (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10940-7
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