‘Young’ blood could help reverse ageing
Extracts from the blood of young people could help reverse ageing in the elderly and promote heart and brain health. A host of recent studies have shown that sharing blood between young mice and old mice rejuvenated the older ones’ brains and muscles.
The researchers are hopeful it could be a technique used to help Alzheimer's and heart disease.
The researchers believe compounds in the young mice's blood awakens old stem cells to revitalise ageing tissue, while the old mice's blood had compounds that slowed things down.
Initial studies involved a technique called parabiosis, where mice are joined together surgically and share blood circulation.
But now two separate research groups have been able to isolate key proteins and found that injecting them into the older mice kick started their stem cells so ageing of the muscles, liver and brains slowed down.
Associate Professor Amy Wagers was able to inject the isolated protein into old mice and found it rejuvenated their hearts, and now she has found it also helps the musculoskeletal system to make old mice stronger.
Meanwhile, San Francisco researchers at the University of California were able to isolate cells and platelets from young mice's blood to inject into old mice, which led to better performance on memory tests.
The researchers hope that if similar results are seen in human trials, a drug can be developed to help elderly people with numerous conditions.
“Instead of taking a drug for your heart and a drug for your muscles and a drug for your brain, maybe you could come up with something that affected them all,” Associate Professor Wagers said.
A potential problem is that kick starting so many stem cells could lead them to multiply uncontrollably, possibly increasing the incidence of cancer.
