Throughout history, cultures across the globe have extolled the properties of youthful blood, with children sacrificed and the blood of young warriors drunk by their conquerors.
Now, scientists have shown that surgically joining the circulatory system of a four-month-old mouse to a two-year-old mouse, for three months, slowed down ageing at the cellular level, and extended the lifespan of the older animal by 10 per cent.
The rejuvenation effect could still be seen even after two months of detachment, adding around 12 weeks to the usual three-year lifespan of the older mouse.
If the effect was replicated in humans by pairing a 50-year-old’s circulatory system to an 18-year-old’s, it would increase a lifespan by eight years.
…
Earlier studies had shown that pairing the mice for three weeks helped older animals become more active and animated, and triggered some tissue regeneration. Experts said the new study showed that longer attachment brought bigger benefits and increased lifespan.
At the cellular level, the procedure drastically reduced the epigenetic age of blood and liver tissue, and showed gene expression changes similar to lifespan-extending interventions such as calorie restriction.
