No Bad Blood Here: Turning the Clock Back With Parabiosis

Parabiosis is a 150-year-old surgical technique that unites the vasculature of two living animals; it mimics natural instances of shared blood supply, such as conjoined twins or animals that share a placenta in the womb.  Experiments with parabiotic rodent pairs have led to breakthroughs in endocrinology, tumor biology and immunology. 

More recently, parabiosis has been used in the field of ageing research.  By joining the circulatory system of an old mouse to that of a young mouse, scientists have produced remarkable results.  The blood of the young mice seems to be making the old mice stronger, smarter and healthier.  Last September, a clinical trial in California became the first to start testing the benefits of young blood in older people with Alzheimer’s disease.  “I think it is rejuvenation,” says Tony Wyss-Coray, a neurologist at Stanford University in California who founded a company that is running the trial.  “We are restarting the ageing clock.” 

Yet, given the history of dashed hopes in the anti-ageing field, any caution over young blood is justified.  Further testing is expected to initiate as researchers learn more about parabiosis.

See Megan Scudellari, Ageing Research Blood to Blood, Nature, Jan. 21, 2015.

Special thanks to Lewis Saret for bringing this article to my attention.