Published time: 16 Nov, 2016 13:37
Injecting blood from young people
into old mice improves the mice’s brain power and leads to increased
physical activity, according to new research. The finding could lead to
breakthroughs for people suffering from degenerative conditions such as
Alzheimer’s Disease.
The findings, which have yet to be peer-reviewed, were presented at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in San Diego, California on Monday, the New Scientist reports.
Researchers
from anti-ageing research company Alkahest took blood samples from
18-year-old humans and injected the plasma into 12-month-old mice twice a
week for three weeks.
A one-year-old mouse is roughly equivalent
to a 50-year-old human, and by that age mice have already started to
show signs of ageing such as deteriorating memory and being less
physically active.
When injected with human plasma, the old mice
began to behave like younger mice, running around in open spaces. Their
memory also showed improvements when tested in a special maze that
measures spatial learning and memory.
The elixir of youth appears to be in the blood plasma. A previous study
had involved surgically conjoining young mice with old mice so that
they shared a blood supply for several weeks. Older mice received the
younger one’s blood and vice versa.
Old mice that received young
blood experienced a boom in the growth of brain cells in the
hippocampus, a part of the brain that plays a key role in memory.
Meanwhile, receiving old blood had the opposite effect on the brains of
young mice.
When researchers at Alkahest examined the effect on
the mice’s brains after receiving human blood they also found evidence
of new cells being created in the hippocampus.
The team believes
that the young plasma appears to be the key factor in reversing the
effects of ageing and says their method has the potential to be
developed into a treatment for human patients. A trial is already
underway with people suffering from Alzheimer’s.
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