Vampires may have figured out the connection between eternal life and blood long ago, but they got the drinking part wrong.
Scientists conducting aging research have discovered that through the sharing of blood circulation between old and young mice by a procedure called parabiosis, the healing process of damaged organ tissue in old mice improved and their appearance became more youthful than young mice. In effect, the old mice gained a rejuvenating effect through the sharing of young blood, not drinking it (vampires got it wrong here).
Image Source :Rob Melnychuk
Various recent research on the effects of young blood on aging that used parabiosis studied the rejuvenation of neurons, heart, and other organs (I recommend listening to the audio log in paragraph 5 in the link “other organs”!) What these researchers have found is that in the blood, more notably the plasma, are protein factors that allow cells to restore older tissues and even enhance growth of brain cells. One such protein factor was growth differentiation factor 11 (GDF11). A direct infusion of young blood leads to an increase in muscle strength and stamina. While other factors are yet to be discovered, the sharing of young blood does indeed exhibit a regenerative effect on older animals.
Because of the success of the numerous parabiosis experiments, a start-up company led by a neurologist from Stanford University has recently started human clinical trials in September 2014 in an attempt to study whether young blood is able to reverse the damage caused by Alzheimer’s. This randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study will test if the same effect seen in mice studies is able to be replicated in humans. If successful, this could mean a breakthrough in the search for extended youth.
Feature Image Source: old people,istanbul by stratos x.By: stratos x.
