Meaghan Race
Young Blood for Old Brains
Tony Wyss-Coray professor at Stanford University School of Medicine presented his research on the ability to rejuvenate old tissues by exposing them to a younger environment through blood transfusion. His work involves parabiosis of mice, which is the surgical connection of a young mouse and an older mouse. In the study, three month old mice (approximately a 20 year old human) were paired up with 18 month old mice (65 year old human). The older mice were exposed to the young systematic environment for a five-week period and a number of significant conclusions were taken from the study. More neural cell activity, higher synaptic activity, high levels of genes involved in memory, less inflammation of the brain, and improved memory were all improvements seen. Unfortunately, due to the fact that the animals were connected, a behavioral study was not conducted. Also the old blood factors can have a negative effect on the younger mice by accelerating their aging process. To eliminate these factors, the next step taken was to use plasma transfer to see if the same effects would be present since parabiosis is not an effective clinical procedure. Young human blood was injected into B6 mice and improved memory function was seen; cord plasma increased hippocampal expression of IE and it increased the number of c-fos expressing neurons in old hippocampus. Memory tests and fear conditioning were two forms of assessment on top of molecular based testing. Currently clinical trials in humans are being conducted using the parameters of 1 pint of blood, donated from a population of twenty year olds, once a week given to Alzheimer’s patients. The ultimate goal is to increase health span rather than life span, allowing for individuals to live healthy longer by rejuvenating tissue and slowing neurodegeneration.