Blood from young mice boosted the memory and muscles of old mice, scientists reported in a series of experiments that give new meaning to the phrase “young blood.”
The experiments, done by teams at Stanford and Harvard Universities, point to possible new ways to treat diseases of aging, from Alzheimer’s to heart disease. And they’re hoping they can find what it is in the blood so that people won’t have to resort to blood transfusions to do it.
The studies, published in the journals Nature Medicine and Science, suggest that whatever it is that rejuvenates muscles, brain cells and perhaps other functions in the body circulates in the blood when animals are young, and stops circulating as they age.
Both teams started with very simple approaches — they transfused blood from young mice into older mice.
“You just give an old mouse young blood and see if the animal is smarter than before,” said Tony Wyss-Coray, a professor of neurology at Stanford who led one of the studies.
They were. The old mice could navigate mazes as quickly as young mice could. “It was as if these old brains were recharged by young blood,” Wyss-Coray added..
More imagine if old people started trying to get your blood for their youth
imagine if old people started trying to get your blood for their youth
