It would seem that theSlovak - Hungarian “ Blood Countess ” Elizabeth Báthorymay have been on to something : Researchers have shown that it is potential to reverse cognitive decline in old mouse by throw in them with blood from the immature . Elderly mice who were given transfusion of unseasoned line were read to demonstrate improved acquisition skills and memory — and at a level comparable to much younger black eye . Should the same upshot apply to humans , it could play a fresh mode to treat neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer ’s and Parkinson ’s .
A chief reasonableness why we have cognitive decline as we get older is due to our decrease yield of neuronal stem cells — what stop up get fewer connections between mental capacity cellphone . practice session has been bonk to help , but its event are limited .
But Saul Villeda of Stanford University has shown that the production of these stem cells may have something to do with the caliber of our blood .
He first made this discovery two year ago when he injected the blood of an sometime black eye into a younger one and vice versa . Villeda did this by connecting the circulatory organization of two mice so that their parentage could mix ( what ’s called heterochronic parabiosis ) . Soon after the blood transfusion he noticed that the younger mouse ’s brain come out to mature much more chop-chop . And when he analyzed the old mouse , he observed that the number of stem cadre had increase . His discipline led to a research newspaper that was laterpublishedin Nature .
More recently , Villeda ’s experiments have essay to determine whether or not this core translates to behavioural changes as well . In the new study , he perform a similar blood transfusion and put the mice into a water maze where they were required to do memory labor . He let out that the older mice did almost as well as mice who were four to six months sure-enough . As for the older , untreated mice , they made lots of mistakes and continually swam down unreasoning alleys .
In terms of what ’s happening , the researchers say the young blood is likely reversing the age summons by topping up stage of key chemical substance factors that normally decline in the blood as we age . Speaking to the Guardian , Villedanotedthat , after the blood transfusion , “ all of a sudden you have all of these plasticity and eruditeness and memory - related factor that are coming back . ” But as to which accurate factors are causing the effect , the researchers are not sure — there are hundreds of thousands of campaigner constituent .
Looking ahead , Villeda says his squad ’s sixth sense could result in genuine greening therapies for masses dole out with cognitive decline . The first dance step , however , is to specify whether or not this gist translate to humans .
Villeda submit these results at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in New Orleans on October 17 , 2012 . Anearlier version of his researchappeared in Nature last year .
Source : Guardian .
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