The Search for Factors in Young Blood that Might be Used to Treat Aging

A fair number of research groups and a few startup companies are engaged in the search for factors in young blood that might explain the effects of parabiosis. Heterochronic parabiosis is a procedure in which the circulatory systems of a young and an old mouse are linked. The young mouse begins to show some early signs of aging, and the old mouse shows a reversal of some measures of aging. The evidence to date is conflicted on the topic of whether or not this effect is due to beneficial components of young blood: it is clearly the case that some signals present in young blood can be delivered on their own to old animals in order to produce benefits; yet blood and plasma transfusions don't seem to work to any meaningful degree in either mice or people; and a very compelling study provided evidence for benefits to result from a dilution of harmful factors in old blood. Scientists initially used parabiosis to investigate how conjoined organisms, like some twins, affect each other. After a period of declining interest in the method starting in the 1970s, parabiosis returned to the scene in 2005, when scientists decided to use the approach to answer questions about tissue regeneration in older organisms. After the release of the 2005 study and other work showing that young blood could seemingly rejuvenate old mice, scientists and the public alike seized on the alluring notion of an elixir of youth. In February, concerned about premature application in humans based ...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs