Fountain of Youth? Young Blood Infusions "Rejuvenate" Old Mice

   As we grow older we notice declines in our bodies ability to perform as it once did.  This decline may refer to a physical or mental decrease.  Neuroscientist Tony Wyss-Coray led researchers at Stanford University in a 2014 study that showed how older mice could fight the effects of cognitive and mental decline by receiving infusions of blood from younger mice.

   The older mice were joined to the younger mice's circulatory system by a process know as parabiosis.  This involved suturing the mice together so that they shared a circulatory system.  The older mice who had been joined to a younger mouse started to see changes in the gene system in the hippocampus region of the brain.  Not only did the genes start to show improvement the mice also showed increased connections and "increased synaptic plasticity".  This increase helped to heal the learning and memory parts of the brain.

  Plasma donations from younger mice were also given to the older mice along with the suturing.  The improvement in learning and memory was so significant that Wyss-Coray and his colleagues went further and studied the effects that plasma from human umbilical cords and young adults has on the older mice.  This breakthrough was significant as it proved to the researchers that humans could benefit from this research.  As we are living longer the mental decline of the older generation has increased and become a serious health challenge.  My family has suffered with devastating effects of dementia and Alzheimers.  My sweet Grandma was the victim of this disease and I was lucky enough to take care of her and see how she hated what the loss of her memory had done to her.

  During the study researchers wanted to find which proteins in the plasma were responsible for dramatic increases scientists were seeing when cord or young adult plasma was given to older mice.  They were able to find a protein that had not been tested until now for its ability to reverse memory decline.  TIMP2 when injected into elderly mice was shown to produce the same effects that cord plasma did on the hippocampus of the brain.  The effects of TIMP2 were drastic and clear cut. TIMP2 is one of a family of proteins that regulate a certain class of enzymes that regulate many proteins.  This showed the researchers that there was promise in reversing the effects of devastating mental decline in our aging population.

  I am excited for this research and also for the hope that there will be a cure for dementia and Alzheimer's.  Test studies have been conducted and further research studies are happening by Wyss-Coray.  The doors that have been opened by this research are very promising to an aging population that is desperate to remember.


https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fountain-of-youth-young-blood-infusions-ldquo-rejuvenate-rdquo-old-mice/