The “Fountain of Youth”, fact or fiction? Legend or to be
discovered? For thousands of years, we have searched for the elusive spring that
is rumored to restore youth to anyone who drinks or bathes in its waters. Eternal
youth has long been an obsession of society, and science may shortly have an
answer to the great debacle that is…getting old.
As we age, a variety of factors decline including cognition.
Wanting to find out how an older brain would react during exposure to young
blood, researchers developed a technique called parabiosis. This technique involves conjoining an old mouse with a
young mouse. By suturing their body walls together, a common blood supply is
formed from the fusion of their capillaries. This introduction of young blood
to the old mouse has been found to develop new neurons, increase synaptic activity,
as well express more genes known to facilitate new memories.
But what specifically leads to this rejuvenation? Scientists
are currently trying to isolate specific proteins that they think explain these
results. One of these proteins is growth differentiation factor 11 (GDF11). In
recent studies, GDF11 injections increased new blood vessels and olfactory
neurons in the brain, as well increased recovery from muscle injuries in aging
mice. GDF11 therapy is currently viewed as a potential rival treatment, though its
mechanism is not fully known.
Another possible alternative has been established by the
Wyss-Coray lab at Stanford, who brought on rejuvenation by injecting old mice
with young human plasma. A clinical trial is soon to be underway to see if this
method can be applied to humans. In this study, patients with Alzheimer’s will
be submitted to plasma injections from young donors. For now, we can only hope
this study will bring forth positive results that will lead us to improve upon
the treatment of age-related diseases.
We may never have the ability to live forever, but maybe the
“Fountain of Youth” is fact rather than fiction, and can be found within all of
us. Maybe then we can formulate better methods to improve one’s quality of
life, furthering their years to remember.
Sources:
VERY interesting research! While the suturing the body walls of mice together is a little "silence of the lambs" for me, I was particularly struck by the upcoming clinical study injecting Alzheimer's patients with plasma from young donors. In my experience with Alzheimer's patients in the ER, I found myself particularly emotionally affected by their pain and the hardship caused on their families. This inspired me to research the ethical issues associated with performing clinical studies on patients with forms of dementia. I came across the Alzheimer Europe website:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.alzheimer-europe.org/Ethics/Ethical-issues-in-practice/Ethics-of-dementia-research/Clinical-trials#fragment2
which is a European non-governmental organization aiming to raise awareness on Alzheimer's. When conducting clinical trials on patients with dementia, one must first ask whether it is ethical to give a cure to one group and not to another. My first thought, however, was regarding the vulnerability of these patients due to their mental disability. I would worry that a patient with Alzheimer's who participates in this trial might be given false hope for a cure and therefore, unable to give truly informed consent. There are also issues with giving placebo pills to the control group in the study which might cause emotional distress from the subject, as they could feel betrayed by the research team. On the other side, those who receive the clinical drug and experience improvement in symptoms might become distraught, along with their family members, after the trial is complete if the drug is not yet FDA approved. However, as the Alzheimer Europe website states, people with dementia have every right to consent to participate in such a study and hopefully this research will lead to a cure for this heartbreaking disease!