Health Effects of Long-Term Rapamycin Treatment: The Impact on Mouse Health of Enteric Rapamycin Treatment from Four Months of Age throughout Life

Fischer KE, Gelfond JA, Soto VY, Han C, Someya S, Richardson A, Austad SN · 2015 · PLoS One · Atlas ID FIS2015

What this study shows

Mice of both sexes were fed rapamycin in their food (14 ppm, encapsulated) from 4 months of age until death, 40 per sex per group, and the same animals were tested repeatedly for health measures from 16 months of age. Some measures improved: females had stronger grip at all ages, females kept body mass and fat longer during late-life weight loss, and sleep fragmentation fell in males (with a trend in females). Others did not change, such as stride length and age-related cochlear damage, and male rotarod performance was worse. In body mass, percent fat and resting metabolic rate, rapamycin moved males and females in opposite directions. The study showed that lifelong rapamycin in mice affects healthspan measures in a mixed and strongly sex-specific way rather than improving health across the board. Boundary: C57BL/6J mice only, one dietary dose; survival was reported in a companion paper, not in this one, and mTOR activity was not measured here.

Abstract

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Rapamycin, an mTOR inhibitor, has been shown to extend lifespan in a range of model organisms. It has been reported to extend lifespan in multiple strains of mice, administered chronically or acutely early or late in life. The ability of rapamycin to extend health (healthspan) as opposed to life is less well documented. To assess the effects chronic rapamycin treatment on healthspan, enteric rapamycin was given to male and female C57BL/6J mice starting at 4 months of age and continued throughout life.

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At a glance

Evidence type	A Animal model Marked A because it is an animal intervention or observation study measuring an organismal outcome (model: Male and female C57BL/6J mice fed microencapsulated rapamycin (14 ppm) or empty capsules from 4 months of age until death (40 per sex per group); repeated longitudinal health assessments from 16 months); the code names the system studied -- animal work can be rigorous and still not be human data.
Study type	4 - Animal Study
Model system	Male and female C57BL/6J mice fed microencapsulated rapamycin (14 ppm) or empty capsules from 4 months of age until death (40 per sex per group); repeated longitudinal health assessments from 16 months
Journal	PLoS One
Year	2015
Peer reviewed	Yes
Record last updated	2026-10-01
Source	DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0126644 · PMID 25978367 · Free full text (PMC4433347)

Extracted findings

These fields were extracted from the paper with AI assistance and have not been checked against the source. Read them as a pointer into the paper, not as curated claims; where they disagree with the curated summary above, the curated summary stands.

Intervention	Encapsulated rapamycin in diet, 14 ppm, from 4 months of age for life
Target	mTOR
Model	Mouse (C57BL/6J, both sexes)
Effect	Mixed, sex-specific healthspan effects: better female grip strength and male sleep, worse male rotarod, opposite-sex changes in body mass/fat/metabolic rate

In the Atlas

Cite this paper

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Fischer, K. E., Gelfond, J. A., Soto, V. Y., Han, C., Someya, S., Richardson, A., & Austad, S. N. (2015). Health Effects of Long-Term Rapamycin Treatment: The Impact on Mouse Health of Enteric Rapamycin Treatment from Four Months of Age throughout Life. PLoS One. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0126644

@article{FIS2015,
  author       = {Fischer, K. E. and Gelfond, J. A. and Soto, V. Y. and Han, C. and Someya, S. and Richardson, A. and Austad, S. N.},
  title        = {{Health Effects of Long-Term Rapamycin Treatment: The Impact on Mouse Health of Enteric Rapamycin Treatment from Four Months of Age throughout Life}},
  journal      = {PLoS One},
  year         = {2015},
  doi          = {10.1371/journal.pone.0126644},
  note         = {PMID: 25978367},
}

Cite this Atlas record

The record is the Atlas's own work — the evidence label, the extracted findings and the links. It is cited as part of the dataset, not as the paper.

Barton, O. (2026). Oliver's mTOR Atlas (record FIS2015) [Data set]. https://mtor-atlas.org/study/FIS2015/ · Dataset DOI 10.5281/zenodo.22059963

@misc{atlas_FIS2015,
  author       = {Barton, Oliver},
  title        = {{Oliver's mTOR Atlas}, record FIS2015},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  year         = {2026},
  url          = {https://mtor-atlas.org/study/FIS2015/},
  doi          = {10.5281/zenodo.22059963}
}

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