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Understanding How Young Blood Helps Old Mice

This study shows new light on an old process.

Heterochronic ParabiosisHeterochronic Parabiosis

A preprint published on bioRxiv, whose authors include well-known biogerontologist Vadim Gladyshev, has shown us many interesting details of the effects that heterochronic parabiosis has on aging mice.

An old concept studied in new depth

Heterochronic parabiosis is the linking of the circulatory systems of young and aged animals. While the researchers note that this has been studied since the 1950s, one of the most important papers on its effects was written by the Conboys in 2005 [1]. Removing old blood factors and introducing young ones has been shown to improve a great many tissues, including brain [2], muscle [1], and bone [3].

However, as the researchers point out, there had not yet been any long-term lifespan studies of mice given parabiosis and then detached later. By combining multi-omics techniques with a thorough lifespan study, the researchers sought to find out just how beneficial this process really is.

A long-term experiment with substantial results

This experiment featured three groups of mice. In addition to young and old mice having their circulatory systems connected, young mice were attached to other young mice and old mice were attached to other old mice to serve as control groups. The young mice were 3 months old, and the old mice were 20 months old, at the beginning of the experiment, and they stayed connected for three months.

The basic lifespan and body composition data was promising. The old, treated mice lived an average of six weeks longer than the old controls. Their body composition was improved; they had less fat mass and maintained muscle mass.

Improvements in epigenetics and gene expression

The epigenetic data was unequivocal. When tested with eight methylation clocks on two different platforms, the liver tissue of treated mice was found to be substantially and significantly younger than that of their untreated counterparts, and this persisted even two months after detachment.

The researchers also performed a gene expression analysis involving RNA sequencing. The gene expression of treated mice was, in many areas, more like that of young mice, particularly in areas related to fat metabolism and mTOR.

In all, the researchers ascertained that this intervention caused somewhat similar gene expression changes as other interventions known to extend healthspan and lifespan, such as caloric restriction (CR). The negative association with aging signatures was even stronger with parabiosis than with CR. Three months of parabiosis was found to be much more effective than five weeks in creating lasting changes to gene expression.

Among the genes found to be upregulated with parabiosis were Sirt3, which improves regeneration and decreases reactive oxygen species, along with Tert, which encodes for telomerase reverse transcriptase, a compound that lengthens telomeres and has been shown to have other positive effects. Dmnt3b, a gene that produces an enzyme associated with methylation, was downregulated, as were genes that encode the harmful senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP).

To conclude, our results indicate that biological age and molecular damage can be systemically reversed in a sustained manner following exposure to young circulation, and open exciting new avenues for research on parabiosis and its derivatives for organismal rejuvenation.

Conclusion

Obviously, the direct applicability of this research to humans is limited, as there will be no experiment in which an old person is connected to a young person’s bloodstream for three months. However, this murine experiment shows the power of old blood and young blood factors and provides insight into what blood exchange actually does to the metabolisms of animals.

If it is possible to isolate the various circulating signals and determine their differences, it may be possible to develop drugs that mimic them. If successful, such a treatment could be a readily accessible method of improving lifespan and healthspan.

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Literature

[1] Conboy, I. M., Conboy, M. J., Wagers, A. J., Girma, E. R., Weissman, I. L., & Rando, T. A. (2005). Rejuvenation of aged progenitor cells by exposure to a young systemic environment. Nature, 433(7027), 760-764.

[2] Villeda, S. A., Plambeck, K. E., Middeldorp, J., Castellano, J. M., Mosher, K. I., Luo, J., … & Wyss-Coray, T. (2014). Young blood reverses age-related impairments in cognitive function and synaptic plasticity in mice. Nature medicine, 20(6), 659-663.

[3] Baht, G. S., Silkstone, D., Vi, L., Nadesan, P., Amani, Y., Whetstone, H., … & Alman, B. A. (2015). Exposure to a youthful circulation rejuvenates bone repair through modulation of ß-catenin. Nature communications, 6(1), 1-10.

About the author
Josh Conway

Josh Conway

Josh is a professional editor and is responsible for editing our articles before they become available to the public as well as moderating our Discord server. He is also a programmer, long-time supporter of anti-aging medicine, and avid player of the strange game called “real life.” Living in the center of the northern prairie, Josh enjoys long bike rides before the blizzards hit.
  1. Peter Ezzell
    November 18, 2021

    It has been pointed out by the experimenters that these animals were also sharing organs which no doubt had an influence on health. The blood only transfer experiments are more relevant as is the more recent Conboy lab work which showed that simply diluting old plasma had profound effects which may be at least as effective as young old transfers. Would be helpful to have Gladyshev examine plasma dilution in the ssame way, although Coboy has already shown that gene expression shifts toward younger phenotype, although the duration is unknown

  2. Neil
    November 20, 2021

    It’s fantastic that someone did this lifespan experiment and drilled deeper into the details of heterochronic parabiosis. I agree with Peter above that we need to do the same experiment with NBE and in fact, we need to do an experiment with repeated NBE in an animal large enough for repeat treatment.

  3. chrisoutoftown
    November 29, 2021

    I thought there were prizes in the millions of dollars for the researcher that can break the past lifespan record in Mice. Why can’t they test for what the max lifespan they can add to an older mouse that gets these special treatments (use new younger mice, over and over with just 1 older mouse) to push the max lifespan from this healing hack. Also could they try this with monkey’s or a primate that is closer to humans? Also it seems critical to understand that getting the old blood out (if damaged somehow) vs. just getting in new blood. Note that the past leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-il, tried getting young blood in trick, but it did not work (maybe he forgot to get the old blood out). He died in 2011, but had heard of this research and life extension hack and thought new young blood was the answer, but clearly did not understand the details or had other complicating health problems to complicate it.

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