This kicks
open an important door of research. Just
proving the positive value of young blood is enough to spur the research for
the correct proteins and supplementation protocols. Using such blood itself is generally
impractical and certainly dangerous as well.
Thus we all want that protein synthesized quickly and actual application
tested carefully.
There are also
likely to be other related factors to winkle out.
This work is extremely
important and is the first direct therapy that can restore function substantially
into late life. As posted long since, we
must first master the art of sustaining our prime until our biological limit is
reached of one century. Better we all must
be able to do this in order to double our capacity for output.
This will mean
spending seventy years of our life essentially in prime condition and able to
retain twitch speed as well.
Going beyond
this is a different problem altogether and will also be tackled but the promise
here is that one hundred is becoming possible.
'Vampire
therapy' could reverse ageing, scientists find
A transfusion of youthful blood may halt or
even reverse the ageing process as two studies find that the chemical make-up
of younger blood has surprising health benefits
By Sarah Knapton, Science Correspondent
6:00PM BST 04 May 2014
It may seem the stuff of gothic horror
novels, but transfusions of young blood could reverse the ageing process and even
cure Alzheimer’s Disease, scientists believe.
Throughout history, cultures across the
globe have extolled the properties of youthful blood, with children sacrificed
and the blood of young warriors drunk by the victors.
It was even rumoured that the North Korean
dictator Kim Jong-il injected himself with blood from healthy young virgins to
slow the ageing process.
Now scientists have found that young blood
actually ‘recharges’ the brain, forms new blood vessels and improves memory and
learning.
In parallel research, scientists at Harvard
University also discovered that a ‘youth protein’ which circulates in the blood
is responsible for keeping the brain and muscles young and strong.
The protein, known as ‘GDF11’, is present in
the bloodstream in large quantities when we are young but peters out as we age.
Although both the discoveries were made in
mice, researchers are hoping to begin human trials in the next two to three
years, in studies which could bring rapid improvements for human longevity and health.
“This should give us all hope for a
healthier future,” said Prof Doug Melton, of Harvard's Department of Stem Cell
and Regenerative Biology.
“We all wonder why we were stronger and
mentally more agile when young, and these two unusually exciting papers
actually point to a possible answer.
“There seems to be little question that,
GDF11 has an amazing capacity to restore aging muscle and brain function.”
Last year the team discovered that the
protein could repair damaged hearts. But the new study showed that that raising
the levels of the GDF11 protein in older mice improved the function of every
organ in the body.
Harvard stem cell biologist Prof Lee Rubin
added: “We do think that, at least in principal, there will be a way to reverse
some of the decline of aging with a single protein.
"It isn't out of question that GDF11,
or a drug developed from it, might be worthwhile in Alzheimer's Disease.”
It is likely that the protein is at least
partly responsible for the parallel finding by Stanford University that young
blood can reverse the signs of ageing.
In the study, the blood of three-month-old
mice was repeatedly injected into 18-month-old mice near the end of their
natural life span.
The "vampire therapy" improved the
performance of the elderly mice in memory and learning tasks.
Structural, molecular and functional changes
were also seen in their brains, the study published in the journal Science
found.
If the same were seem in humans, it could
lead to new therapies for recharging our aging brains and novel drugs for
treating dementias such as Alzheimer’s disease.
“We’ve shown that at least some age-related
impairments in brain function are reversible. They’re not final,” said Dr Saul
Villeda, of Stanford’s School of Medicine.
Ageing mice given eight infusions of young
blood over three weeks improved their performance in mental tests of fear
condition and locating a hidden platform in a water maze.
Evidence was seen of new connections forming
in the hippocampus, a brain region vital to memory and sensitive to ageing.
Dendritic spines - finger-like extensions
from the branches of neurons that are thought to play a role in memory
formation - also became more dense.
Infusions of blood from other elderly mice
had no effect, the study, published in the journal Nature, found.
“This could have been done 20 years ago,”
said lead researcher Dr Tony Wyss-Coray of Stanford.
“You don’t need to know anything about how
the brain works. You just give an old mouse young blood and see if the animal
is smarter than before. It’s just that nobody did it.”
"Our data indicate that exposure of
aged mice to young blood late in life is capable of rejuvenating synaptic
plasticity and improving cognitive function.
"Future studies are warranted in aged
humans and potentially those suffering from age-related neurodegenerative
disorders."
Dr Eric Karran, from the dementia charity
Alzheimer's Research UK, said: “This technically complex study looks at the
effects of exposing old mice to blood-borne factors from young mice on
age-related cognitive decline.
“Although the treatments tested here
rejuvenate certain aspects of learning and memory in mice, these studies are of
unknown significance to humans.
“This research, while very interesting, does
not investigate the type of cognitive impairment that is seen in Alzheimer's
disease, which is not an inevitable consequence of ageing.”
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