Forever Young?
- Deekshita Gorrepati
- Jun 24, 2020
- 3 min read
Updated: Dec 14, 2020
A new surgical technique that has implications of extending our lifespans through young blood transfusions.
Ever watch Vampire Diaries or the Twilight series? Well, this surgical technique known as Parabiosis developed 150 years ago in 18864 by the physiologist Paul Bert is sorta similar. Just like your basic vampire or even Dracula, this procedure involves using young blood to extend one’s life span. You could think of it as being a step closer to immortality.
In a surgery, Bert joined the skin and muscular walls of two rats by literally cutting their skins and sewing them together. Because they were connected so were their blood vessels, which means that they shared circulatory systems and this allowed the young blood to be used to detoxify and metabolize function of the organs (heterochronic parabiosis), Consequently, though this procedure may seem immoral at first glance, it has indeed paved the way for many physiological studies. However, the first time around, the method had seriously strained the rats, for obvious reasons and caused many rats to die.
Now, with the field being more advanced, a research group at the Stanford University School of Medicine asserted that they might be able to use this young blood to rejuvenate our organs. Studies have shown that there is increased life span as well as an impact on old muscle stem cells when young blood is put into those of older rats. This correlation with longevity has also signified an increase in neurogenesis (formation of new nerve cells) and cognitive function in terms of improvement of heart and muscle function. Along with neurogenesis, the young blood allowed for the formation of new blood vessels, suggesting that our vampire fantasies may in fact be a reality.
Parabiosis is similar to stem cell treatments in that both aim to lower chronic inflammation, increase stem cell activity, and tissue generation, which in turn will further enhance organ function. Studies specifically showed that with heterochronic parabiosis (young-old), neural stem cells exposed to young blood increased these cells to proliferate and differentiate into neurons.
As exciting as all of this may sound, researchers Irinia and Michael Conboy did an experiment in which instead of making two rats interconnected through their circulatory systems, they transfused blood so that each rat would have half young blood and half old blood. As was expected, the young blood did help old muscle repair itself, but the old blood limited the young animals’ endurance and even decreased the growth of their brain cells more than the young blood helped the older cells. Now from this experiment, the problem is clear-cut: the old blood is essentially poison.
These results correspond with what Ambrosia saw in their patients. With people discovering that young blood may push them farther from dying, a company located in Monterey California decided to transfuse donated blood from teenagers into older patients. Many accusations were made that Ambrosia’s trial was poorly conducted and that therefore, they had unfounded conclusions that blood transfusions would be beneficial. Despite this being an expensive transfusion ($8000), the company claimed though the clients felt “younger” after transfusions, the effects were only temporary. Given that this company is limited to only transfusions and not having patients share circulatory systems, for obvious reasons (thank god), the clients’ effects seem realistic.
However, parabiosis may have beneficial implications for Alzheimer’s Disease. Alzheimer's is a neurodegenerative disease that leads to dementia, inability to function independently. Some of the common symptoms of this disease include memory loss, poor judgment, mood swings, and unfortunately, as of right now, there is no cure. However, Alkahest, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, conducted an experiment to determine if young plasma transfusions have any effect on Alzheimer’s. This treatment was concluded to be safe and the clients who received the plasma were shown to have performed better on daily tasks than those in the placebo group. Maybe taking the vampire path may be the answer or maybe there are better and more successful alternatives.
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Work Cited
Brown, David. Giving Young Blood to Older Animals Raises Tantalizing Possibilities for People. 14
Kamran, Paniz, et al. Parabiosis in Mice: a Detailed Protocol. 6 Oct. 2013,
Katsimpardi, Lida, et al. Vascular and Neurogenic Rejuvenation of the Aging Mouse Brain by Young
Systemic Factors. 9 May 2014, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4123747/.
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