On memory tests, old mice exposed to the blood plasma of the young outperformed old mice that got plasma from old rodents. The old mouse brains exposed to young plasma had more new neurons, less inflammation and more synapses or connections between neurons. The ultimate goal is to identify what component of young plasma might be benefitting people. “There is an accumulation of toxic plaques in the brain and it’s almost impossible to get rid of them.”Her own parabiosis experiments have found that when young mice and old mice swap blood, young mice get “dumber” and stop making new neurons in the brain. Conboy believes that regardless of how much young blood is infused, harmful factors in old blood dominate and prevent young blood “from doing anything good.”Results from the PLASMA trial were presented Saturday at the Clinical Trials on Alzheimer’s Disease annual meeting in Boston.

Source: National Post November 06, 2017 16:47 UTC