It became clear to scientists that it is not necessary to transfer the blood of a young person to an elderly person to restore his youth, but rather to get the same result, it is enough to dilute the blood of the elderly with a substance that is not harmful to health.
Aging reports that in 2005 exciting news spread around the world that the blood of young animals rejuvenated the old animals. Biologists then invented a kind of Siamese twin with common blood from young and old mice. The result was startling as strange changes occurred in the body of elderly mice: the level of fat and fibrosis in the liver decreased, the muscles became stronger, and new neurons arose in the hippocampus region. In short, the elderly mice returned to their youth.
Biologists repeated these experiments again and again, and the results were the same, and they discovered that there are components in the blood that perform this unique work. So they tried to use this method to treat aging diseases. It is reported that researcher Irina Conboy from the University of California at Burleigh conducted experiments in 2005, and today she heads a scientific group in this field, and she posed the following question, Is it related to young blood, or is it sufficient to transfer fluid to reduce blood?
Because as it is known with age, DNA fragments that hinder the activity of harmful genes are weakened. Therefore, harmful proteins encoded by these genes accumulate in the body. This is one of the main causes of aging. Therefore it can be assumed that lowering the concentration of these proteins in the blood will have a regenerative effect. To reach this goal, it is sufficient to reduce blood only.
To confirm this, biologists changed half of the blood plasma of elderly mice, using saline with an added albumin (the primary protein in the plasma) instead of the blood. And it became clear to them the effect of this process on the elderly mice, just like the effect of blood transfusion. In addition, an analysis of the composition of proteins in the blood after this process showed a decrease in the concentration of a number of inflammatory proteins, compared to an increase in the concentration of some beneficial proteins.
According to the researchers, these changes happen under the influence of transcription factors. These factors are proteins that control the synthesis of other proteins. This process appears to have reduced the concentration of the harmful transcription factors that inhibit the synthesis of beneficial proteins, resulting in an increased concentration of the latter. The researchers note, the same thing was observed in people who underwent a partial replacement of the blood plasma.
Now researchers plan to conduct clinical tests to ensure that this method is useful in treating aging diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, and neurodegenerative diseases.
Of course, aging is a very complex and multifaceted process, so it cannot be stopped entirely or put back into one process. But with each new study, mankind takes a step towards the grand goal - victory over deficit.