May 08, 2014 09:28:00

Proteins in young blood turned out to have the power to revive aged cells

By

Mike Alegado

There are fictitious characters like ' Dracula ' and DIO in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure series that have the power to 'get young blood and regenerate their own body', but from experiments using mice. Young blood has been proven to have the effect of actually healing the body, and it has become a hot topic.

Young Blood Renews Old Mice | Science / AAAS | News
http://news.sciencemag.org/biology/2014/05/young-blood-renews-old-mice

Hope for aging brains, skeletal muscle | Harvard Gazette
http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2014/05/hope-for-aging-brains-skeletal-muscle/

This announcement was made by a research team at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute , where the protein ' GDF11 ', which is more abundant in the blood of young mice, has a significant effect on the ability of cranial nerves and muscle cells to regenerate. It turned out that.

GDF11 is a protein produced in the body and is known to decrease with age. Amy Wagers, a professor of stem cell and regenerative biology at Harvard University, who focused on this substance, said, 'This is the first proof of the'rejuvenation factor'in living organisms.' I will talk. In addition, Tony Wyss-Coray of Stanford University and others are also conducting experiments on this GDF11, and even by injecting plasma collected from young mice into the body of aged mice, it is remembered. We also know that we will improve our ability to do so.

Professor Weigers' research team started this research around 2000. The abdominal cavities of two mice were surgically sutured, and an experiment was conducted using a technique called paradoxical connection that joins the two circulatory systems to examine the effect of blood from a young solid on the internal organs of an aged solid. .. This method has a history of more than 150 years, and when the research team combined 18-month-old and 3-month-old mice, it was found that the muscle stem cells of 18-month-old mice were reactivated. Similar experiments have found similar effects on liver, spinal cord, and brain cells.

In addition, Professor Weigers' team focused on certain proteins in the blood. This is a protein called GDF11 ( G rowth D ifferentiation F actor 11) that controls the activity of stem cells, and it is known that it is abundant in young individuals and decreases with age. Research published in 2013 has already shown that injecting GDF11 into the blood has the effect of suppressing age-related cardiac hypertrophy and reducing the risk of heart disease such as heart failure. The announcement further reveals that GDF11 influences muscle tissue regeneration and endurance improvement in aged mice.

In a study on brain cells, GDF11 was injected into the blood vessels of 15-month-old mice, which is about half the average lifespan, and changes were observed. A one-day infusion over a month revealed a 50% increase in the volume of blood vessels in the brain and a 29% increase in the number of stem cells in the brain. All of these numbers are known to have the effect of improving brain function. The image on the left in the figure below shows the blood vessels in the brain of an aged mouse, but the image on the right shows the blood vessels regenerated after being fed with blood from a young mouse.

Using this mouse, the research team conducted an experiment on the ability to memorize the mark indicating the position of the table hidden in the water. As a result, ' older mice that received young blood were able to find the hidden platform more easily, ' he said in an email interview with AFP.

In a study on muscle cells, GDF11 was injected into the body of aged mice. Then, it was found that the muscle mass changed to about twice that of the two-month-old mouse, and it was confirmed that the state of muscle fiber regeneration observed with an electron microscope was much higher than that of the average mouse. .. In addition, endurance tests using a treadmill also showed that normal mice had an average endurance of 37 minutes, whereas mice injected with GDF11 had an average endurance of 57 minutes. increase.

Many people in the research team imagined 'vampires' because of the surprising fact that 'young blood regenerates the body of old mice'. The results of this study show that GDF11 and 'young blood' have unprecedented effects on the regeneration of heart, brain nerve cells and organ cells, and treat Alzheimer's disease, heart disease, diabetes, stroke, cancer, etc. It is believed to be useful for. However, while recognizing the effects of GDF11, Professor Weigers said, 'There are many points that remain unknown, such as why GDF11 decreases with age and the presence or absence of side effects,' and it is still premature to put it to practical use. It reveals the idea that there is.

In addition to the safety aspects brought about by changes over time, ethical improvements are required, including side effects due to administration and, in the worst case, the possibility of leading to blood sales , which is currently prohibited in Japan. Needless to say.