This matches up with the earlier report of young mice blood transfusions helping recovery. See below
http://harvardmagazine.com/2013/05/heart-aging-reversal-factor-found-in-mice?utm_source=Harvard+Magazine+e-mail+newsletters&utm_campaign=1e2dda5a8c-THIS_WEEK&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d59fecc95b-1e2dda5a8c-85119777
Researchers at the Harvard Stem Cell institute have
discovered a substance in the blood of young mice that reverses a major effect
of aging in the hearts of old mice. The substance, called GDF-11, is an obscure
member of the transforming growth factor family of proteins; it was identified
by Forst family professor of stem cell and regenerative biology Amy
Wagers and Harvard Medical School
professor Richard
T. Lee, working with a startup company,
SomaLogic, that has developed a technology for analyzing factors in the blood.
Lee and Wagers report their finding that GDF-11 reverses cardiac hypertrophy,
or thickening of the heart muscle, in mice, in the May 9 issue of the journal Cell.
The heart’s walls thicken with age—the primary
cause of cardiac failure in humans, explains Lee, a practicing cardiologist at
Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Yet in the study, when older mice were given the
factor, he says, “we could reverse the heart aging in a very short period of
time.” The change from a thickened, fibrotic heart to the smooth-muscled heart
of youth is so dramatic, it is reportedly visible to the naked eye.
Wagers had previously discovered, during research in which the
circulatory system of a young mouse was surgically joined to that of an
old one, that a factor circulating in the blood could reverse aging in
skeletal muscle and the spinal cord (see “A Hidden
Youthfulness”). But because the heart, unlike many other
organs, does not have a known ability to regenerate naturally, she did not
expect to see a similar effect there. “The effect of blood-based factors is
broader than we anticipated,” she says now.
Nor had Wagers, in her earlier experiments,
been able to identify which factor, among the many thousands that circulate in
blood, was responsible for the regeneration that she observed. Now she and Lee
will take a closer look at the effects of GDF-11. It is known to be important
in in-utero development, Lee says, but “its role in adults has not been
explored.”
Wagers said in a press-conference call that other
organs in the body contain cells with surface receptors designed to interact
with the protein, which circulates freely in the bloodstream. The presence of
the receptors suggests that GDF-11 may have an effect on those tissues as
well, so she and Lee plan to investigate whether the protein has
a similar rejuvenating effect on the organs themselves. The researchers hope they may have
discovered a substance that is broadly involved in the physiological pathways
of aging. Says Wagers, “We should have that answer soon.”
This was the key paragraph from the earlier post:
These results suggest that chemicals found in the blood of old mice
inhibit the generation of new brain cells, whereas chemicals in the
blood of young mice promote it. The researchers then injected blood from
young or old mice into young adults. Again, they found that animals
injected with old blood had far fewer newborn neurons in the hippocampus
than those injected with young blood, confirming that old blood
contains soluble factors that inhibit neurogenesis.
So this brings up the question for your doctor. Should all stroke
survivors get blood transfusions from young people, maybe your
grandchildren?
How young should the blood be?
No comments:
Post a Comment