Blood plasma from human teens found to have anti-aging effects on old mice
A series of new trials have found that blood plasma from young people can rejuvenate the body and brain of old mice, improving physical activity, cognition and memory.
According to Sakura Minami of Alkahest, the company behind the work, the method has the potential to be developed into a treatment for people.
Minami and her colleagues took blood samples from 18-year-olds, and injected them into 12-month-old mice. At 12 months old, mice enter a stage roughly equivalent to around age 50 for people, and they start to show signs of aging. They move more slowly and perform badly on memory tests.
The mice were given twice-weekly injections of the human plasma. After three weeks of injections, they were submitted to a range of tests. The treated mice’s performance was compared to young, 3-month-old mice, as well as old mice who had not received injections.
The researchers found that the key to youth is in the blood plasma – the liquid part of the blood. Treated mice ran around an open space like young mice. Their memories also seemed to improve, and they were much better at remembering their way around a maze than untreated mice.
“Young human plasma improves cognition,” says Minami, who presented her findings at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in San Diego, California, on Monday. “Their memory was preserved.”
Examining the brains of both the treated and untreated mice, the team looked for clues on the process called neurogenesis – the birth of new neurons in the hippocampus –which is thought to be important for memory and learning.
They found that the treated mice appeared to have created more new cells in their brain. “Young human plasma treatment can increase neurogenesis,” says Minami.
She hopes to one day translate the findings into an anti-aging treatment for people – one that might help those who start to experience the effects of an aging brain. “There’s anecdotal evidence that people experience benefits after blood transfusions,” she says.
Alkahest, whose mission “is to enrich the health and vitality of humankind through transformative therapies that counterbalance the aging process,” has already started a trial of young blood in people with Alzheimer’s disease.
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