A potentially major breakthrough in anti-aging medicine

The key to remaining youth is in the blood plasma, and the recent study proves it. According to a study, when blood plasma from younger mice is injected into older mice, the anti-aging effect is observed in approximate of 54% multiple tissues. Other rejuvenating signs are also observed. Like reduction in building up of fat, improvement in behavioral measures, and impact on cellular senescence. The study is yet to be published after a thorough scientific evaluation. But a swirl of discussions has already begun among the scientific community. While expressing his views on the results published in bioRxiv, Josh Mitteldorf, Ph.D., a longevity expert and theoretical biologist, said, “I believe major rejuvenation has been achieved in a mammal, using a relatively benign intervention that shows promise of scaling up to humans. I’m going to stake my reputation on it.” The result of injecting blood plasma into older mice is unbelievable. It is so incredible that even Prof. Steve Horvath, the first author, did not believe at first. David Sinclair, Ph.D., and Harvard leading anti-aging researcher on seeing the Prof. Steve Horvath reaction says,“ I suggested he check if the rats were mixed up, but he assured me he checked their genomes. The rats weren’t mixed up, and the data is the data.” Both Mitteldorf and Sinclair were not part of this study, but they both, as well as others in the field, praise the results. According to them, this could be a major breakthrough for rejuvenation medicine. Well, it is already known that the young blood plasma has favorable effects on rodents’ multiple organs. But the confusion prevails around whether it can rejuvenate tissues and cells at an epigenetic level. To measure biological as well as chronological age, an epigenetic clock test is considered the accurate one in biology. The test results are on the basis of precise DNA methylation levels. Over time, Methyls keep on adding and getting subtracted from DNA, and these are responsible for controlling which genes will remain on or off. So, any changes in the methyl patterns and gene regulators are behind the aging process, and researchers are using this idea to reverse the process of getting old. A new study is conducted to test the effect of young rats plasma on the old rats’ epigenetic clock. The treatment done with four injections revealed astonishing results as above 50% of aging is reversed. Blood, liver, and heart are the areas that observed a significant margin in the epigenetic clock age. However, Senescent cells, Antioxidants, IL-6, Triglycerides, HDL cholesterol, Blood glucose, and Cognitive function are the other areas that mark rejuvenation. This proves that the prediction made back in 2008 by Aubrey de Grey’s will come true now. The research will further move to do experiments. It will figure out the exact plasma constituents that can move rodent health spans for better improvements with the strongest effects. Once the experiments on mice/rats bring results with a higher percentage, human trials can also follow. It is also thought that the need for blood extraction from live subjects, human or rodent, will also be eliminated in the near future. Reverse-engineered synthetic plasma manufactured at scale will replace it. The day is not far when it will become older people’s standard medicine.

Conclusion

All the positive assumptions are expected to be achieved soon, but the research is presently at a very early stage. Researchers need to look for answers to several questions like why one region yields lower results than other and various others. Until now, the present results are exciting and are worth to be covered by the Future Timeline blog. If the ongoing researches prove successful, Sinclair concludes that rejuvenation of the body will become common in life. Along with preventing the risk of several diseases, it will also help prevent resistance to many infections.