Have you dreamed about becoming younger? Scientists have managed to slow down the aging of older mice by connecting their blood circulatory system with young mice! A new clue to understanding why we all have an expiration date.
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Slowing down the aging process is no longer a science fiction scenario (at least not for mice), according to a study published in the journal Nature Aging. Researchers at Duke Medical University (USA) surgically connected the blood vessels of young and old mice. The results are clear: the researchers found that the old mice lived 6-9% longer!
Furthermore, their tissues showed signs of rejuvenation and they had more vitality. “We’re still trying to figure out how and why”, cell biologist and co-author of the article James White told the New York Times, but the results suggest that the blood of the young mice contains a cocktail that promotes longevity.
An experiment with parabiosis
The young and old mice were sewn together at the flanks so that the capillaries in their skin met. They were kept in this state of “parabiosis” for three months, after which they were gently separated. The young mice experienced accelerated aging during the parabiosis period, but then regained all their vitality and returned to their original state. The old mice, on the other hand, began to lose their reserves of “young cells” that had accumulated during parabiosis but they did not return to their original state!
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The researchers examined the molecular markers in their blood and liver – the body’s biological clocks that reveal age and measure aging. They noticed that these markers were paused during the parabiosis before starting up again. “We’ve reset the trajectory of aging!” James White marvels.
Immortality is not for tomorrow!
However, human experimentation is still a long way off. Firstly, because the results must be interpreted with caution: a similar experiment published last year by Ukrainian researchers did not show that older mice (of a different breed than these) lived longer after parabiosis, so it is impossible to generalize the conclusions.
Moreover, it is obviously not possible to attach two humans together, especially because the time scales are not the same: to achieve an increase in life expectancy, the parabiosis between a 50-year-old and an 18-year-old would have to last about eight years, and the effect would add eight years to the life expectancy of the older subject.
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Finally, it is currently not possible to imagine injecting the famous cocktail of elements found in younger humans and scientists currently have no idea of its composition “Is it proteins or metabolites? Are young mice delivering new cells or are they just reprograming old ones? That’s what we hope to find out in the future”, concludes James White.
References
Zhang, B., Lee, D.E., Trapp, A. et al. Multi-omic rejuvenation and life span extension on exposure to youthful circulation. Nat Aging (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43587-023-00451-9
