The secret to being forever young could soon be unveiled? In an experiment performed by Alkahest, it was discovered that plasma contributes to the rejuvenation of old mice.

Several research works discussing the injection of the blood component to old mice have been conducted since 2014. The results show that animals injected with blood plasma from younger specimens had better strength and cognition compared to the members of the control group. The California-based biopharmaceutical company is conducting further studies into rejuvenating youth by injecting plasma from healthy 18-year-old humans and 1-year-old mice.

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The study showcased at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in San Diego revealed that recipients of plasma have better activity and enhanced memory. The latter was tested using Barnes maze, which quantifies an animal's spatial learning and memory. "We see a rejuvenation effect. Young human plasma improves cognition. Their memory was preserved," researcher Sakura Minami said.

Neuroscientist and founder of Alkahest, Karoly Nikolich, explained that proteins found in blood trigger the rejuvenating effect. Plasma from younger specimens possesses essential proteins necessary for body strength restoration and repair of cells and tissues, restoring body strength and in cell and tissue repair. The proteins impacts on cognition may be due to their capacity to pass through the brain barrier. Recipients showed a higher number of newly formed neurons in the organ. On the other hand, older plasma contains deteriorated and inflammatory proteins.

The study has opened the doors for more neuroscience experiments. Nikolich stressed that the company "now for the first time discovered that there are hundreds of proteins that change with aging."

This study on old mice injected with young blood for rejuvenation has not been published and peer-reviewed yet. The company stressed that the final results of the study would be published before the end of the year.

[Photo by Randy Jirtle and Dana Dolinoy/CC BY 3.0]