Young blood: Injections of youthful plasma could cure Alzheimer's, scientists claim

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Young blood: Injections of youthful plasma could cure Alzheimer's, scientists claim

Posted by sciencetech-blog on Monday, August 25, 2014 Label:

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Scientists are hopeful that injecting the blood of young people into the bodies of those suffering from Alzheimer's disease, could reverse some of the damage caused by the debilitating condition.

A human experiment due to take place in October and will build on years of animal research, which suggests the transfusion of young blood can improve organ health, including the brain.

Researchers will give blood plasma transfusions, from donors under the age of 30, to volunteers with mild Alzheimer's.

Could young blood cure Alzheimer's? Researchers in California will give a transfusion of blood plasma donated by people under the age of 30 to volunteers with mild Alzheimer's, and hope to see improvements in people with the condition. A stock image of a person having a blood transfusion is pictured

Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia, affecting almost 500,000 people in the UK, according to NHS figures. With an ever-increasing older population, the race is on to find an effective way of treating the disease.

Scientists have been fascinated by the idea that young blood could rejuvenate older bodies since the 1950s, New Scientist reported.

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Clive McCay of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, stitched together the circulatory systems of an old and young mouse more than 60 years ago to discover that the cartilage in the older mice looked younger than expected.

Since then, experiments using the same technique have proved that young blood can rejuvenate the liver and skeletal stem cells of old mice and that young blood can reverse heart decline in the animals.

Alzheimer's disease is the most common type of dementia, affecting almost 500,000 people in the UK, according to NHS figure (stock image)

Dr Amy Wagersat, of Harvard University discovered in 2012 that a protein in the blood plasma called growth differentiation factor 11 (GDF11) seemed to be linked to rejuvenating effects in old mice with a heart condition called cardiac hypertrophy - a condition which causes the heart to swell.

When the ageing mice were given injections of GDF11 for 30 days, their hearts decreased in size, just like when they were given blood of younger mice - leading scientists to think that GDF11 is likely to be one ingredient in blood responsible for rejuvenation.

Subsequent studies have shown that injections of the protein increased the number of blood vessels and stem cells in the brains – improving brain function in older mice.

Scientists know that the production of GDF11 in humans and mice falls with age and although they do not understand why, they think this decrease has a negative effect on the brain's health and long-term memory.

Dr Tony Wyss-Coray at Stanford University, in California, believes that GDF11 could play a role in rejuvenating the brain in humans.

He injected young human blood plasma into old mice and found that the blood seemed to have rejuvenating benefits.

'The human blood had beneficial effects on every organ we've studied so far,' he said.

His team at Stanford School of Medicine will give a transfusion of blood plasma donated by people under 30 to older volunteers with mild to moderate Alzheimer's in October. They hope to see immediate improvements in cognition in the people with the condition,

'We will assess cognitive function immediately before and for several days after the transfusion, as well as tracking each person for a few months to see if any of their family or carers report any positive effects,' he told New Scientist.

'The effects might be transient, but even if it's just for a day it is a proof of concept that is worth pursuing.'

Experts think that GDF11 is unlikely to be the only protein to keep organs youthful, but it could be a key ingredient.

Francesco Loffredo, of Harvard University, thinks that relying on blood transfusions to treat Alzheimer's is impractical, but that research could one day lead to a drug that achieves the same results as transfusions.

Other experts believe that the findings could one day be used to treat cancer and reverse the effects of muscle wasting in chemotherapy, for example, as well as treating Alzheimer's.

BRAIN TRAINING WORKS: EFFECTS LAST 10 YEARS AFTER DOING EXERCISES

Brain training exercises really do work - and can make a difference to cognitive abilities for a decade, American researchers announced in January.

A US Government study found that over 74s were able to improve their reasoning and processing skills using straightforward exercises, and that the effects were still detectable 10 years later.

Participants in largest study ever on cognitive training were given 10 to 12 sessions lasting 60 to 75 minutes each.

People in the study had an average age of 74 when they started the training.

After five years, researchers found, those with the training performed better than their untrained counterparts in all three measures.

Although gains in memory seen at the study's five-year mark appeared to drop off over the next five years, gains in reasoning ability and processing speed persisted 10 years after the training.

'What we found was pretty astounding,' said George Rebok, an expert on aging and a professor at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, who led the study.

'Ten years after the training, there was evidence the effects were durable for the reasoning and the speed training,'

Participants in all three training groups also reported that they had an easier time with daily activities such as managing their medications, cooking meals or handling their finances than did participants who did not get the training.