The Stanford team infused fluid from 10-week-old mice into the brains of 18-month-old mice over seven days, and found that older mice were better at remembering to associate a small electric shock with a noise and flashing light.<\/p>\n
Closer examination showed the fluid had woken up processes which regenerate neurons and myelin the fatty material that protects nerve cells within the hippocampus, the memory centre of the brain.<\/p>\n
Crucially, scientists think they know which part of the fluid is primarily driving the effect: a protein called serum response factor (SRF) which decreases in older mice.<\/p>\n
When they used a growth factor called Fgf17 to boost levels of SRF, the older mice showed the same improvements seen with the youthful infusions, suggesting that Fgf17 could be used as a treatment to rejuvenate ageing brains.<\/p>\n
Dr Tony Wyss-Coray, of Stanfords School of Medicine in California, said the research showed that the ageing process is malleable and that improving the environment in which neurons live may be a better approach than targeting the cells themselves.<\/p>\n
And its not just in the brain where the regenerating properties of youth are showing promise. The effect appears to work from head to tail.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, The Quadram Institute in Norwich showed that transplanting faecal microbes from young mice into old mice reversed hallmarks of ageing in the gut, eyes and brain.<\/p>\n
In contrast, when microbes from aged mice were transplanted into young mice, it induced inflammation in the brain, depleting a key protein required for normal eyesight.<\/p>\n
The team is now working to understand how long these positive effects last and how they are able to impact organs far away from the gut.<\/p>\n
Dr Aimee Parker, The Quadram Institutes lead author of the study, said: We were excited to find that by changing the gut microbiota of elderly individuals, we could rescue indicators of age-associated decline commonly seen in degenerative conditions of the eye and brain.<\/p>\n
Although the latest studies have been done on mice, the breakthroughs signal an important shift in the field of ageing, which could soon revolutionise therapies.<\/p>\n
Experiments are even showing that young blood itself can reverse the ageing process, perhaps even curing Alzheimers disease.<\/p>\n
Historically, cultures have revered the blood of the young. It was even rumoured that Kim Jong-il, the former North Korean dictator, injected himself with blood from healthy young virgins to slow the ageing process.<\/p>\n
The first hint that young blood may be rejuvenating came in 2005 when Stanford carried out a grisly experiment stitching old and young mice together so that they shared a circulatory system.<\/p>\n
After a month, the scientists discovered that the liver and muscles of the older mouse had begun to regenerate.<\/p>\n
In 2014, Harvard University discovered that young blood also recharges the brain, triggering the formation of new blood vessels and improving memory and learning in mice.<\/p>\n
The team even identified a youth protein which is responsible for keeping the brain and muscles young and strong.<\/p>\n
The protein, known as GDF11, is present in the bloodstream in large quantities when we are young but peters out as we age.<\/p>\n
Raising levels of the GDF11 protein in mice has been shown to improve the function of every organ in the body, including the heart.<\/p>\n
However, the field is not without controversy. In 2019, a US start-up called Ambrosia that was offering teenage blood plasma to Silicon Valley billionaires for $8,000 a litre was forced to shut down after the FDA warned against the procedure.<\/p>\n
In 2017, Ambrosia began a clinical trial designed to find out what happens when the veins of adults are filled with blood from younger people, but never published the results.<\/p>\n
There are still hopes that one day such procedures will be used in humans.<\/p>\n
In 2019, Wyss-Corays biotech company Alkahest reported the results from a small six-month trial that saw 40 patients with Alzheimers disease infused with a special human plasma blend, containing more of the proteins which vanish with age.<\/p>\n
It appeared to halt their expected mental decline. The company also has similar trials under way for Parkinsons disease, age-related macular degeneration, inflammatory disease and end-stage renal disease.<\/p>\n
The Harvard spin-off company Elevian is also working on producing enough GDF11 to begin human trials that explore whether it can help people recover after strokes.<\/p>\n
Our research suggests that by targeting fundamental and common underlying mechanisms of ageing as opposed to a specific disease, it may be possible to treat and prevent multiple age-related diseases, said Dr Mark Allen, Elevian CEO and co-founder.<\/p>\n
It may only be a few years before youth transplants finally move from the pages of gothic horror novels into the clinic. Whether patients will feel squeamish about such vampire procedures remains to be seen.<\/p>\n
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\n'Youth transplants' really can slow the ageing process - The Telegraph<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"