Abstract
Increasing aging populations globally have made maintaining a healthy life expectancy for older adults a critical issue. Older adults are particularly susceptible to frailty, physical and mental vulnerability caused by age-related decline in physiological and psychological resilience. Preventing its onset is essential for extending a healthy lifespan. Declines in antioxidant capacity contributes to frailty; therefore, administration of antioxidants may help prevent or treat this condition. Silicon (Si)-based agent reacts with water to produce hydrogen, which selectively scavenges deleterious reactive oxygen species. Oral Si-based agent administration can effectively alleviate symptoms in various disease models associated with oxidative stress, including Parkinson’s disease, ulcerative colitis, facial nerve palsy, and small intestinal ischemia–reperfusion injury. We investigated whether a Si-based agent could prevent or ameliorate frailty associated with aging using klotho mice, a premature aging model, and 105-week-old C57BL/6J mice. In klotho mice, the Si-based agent significantly alleviated age-related physical changes, including kyphosis and deterioration of coat conditions, and frailty-related somatic symptoms, including decreased spontaneous activity and motor function. Moreover, multicriteria frailty classification revealed fewer frail and pre-frail phenotypes in Si-based agent–treated klotho mice than in untreated mice. In aged C57BL/6J mice, the Si-based agent mitigated oxidative stress, suppressed motor performance and body weight decline, and reduced early mortality associated with age-related deterioration. Si-based agent may represent a potential strategy for combating frailty.
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Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the Center of Innovation Program (COI Program, Grant Number JPMJCE1310, JST Japan. We would like to thank Editage (www.editage.com) for English language editing, Nagahama Bio Science Laboratory belong to Oriental Yeast Co., Ltd. for the serum biochemical analyses, and the Center for Medical Research and Education, Graduate School for Medicine, Osaka University, for technical support.
Funding
This work was supported by Center of Innovation Program (COI Program) Grant Number JPMJCE1310, JST Japan.
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Yo.K. designed the study, analyzed the data, and wrote the paper. Yu.K. and H.K. developed the method for fabrication of Si-based agent. S.S. supervised this study and provided intellectual directions. All authors discussed the findings and commented on this manuscript.
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Koyama, Y., Kobayashi, Y., Kobayashi, H. et al. Efficacy of silicon-based agent against aging-related frailty. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-39711-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-39711-0
