Diluting Blood to Fight the Effects of Aging?
Studies in mice suggest that neutral blood exchange could be useful to prevent tissue aging
How vampires stay young
The vampires in many folk tales share a few characteristics, among them immortality and a taste for blood. Actually, these two might be linked, as we’ll see below.
Another interesting commonality is that vampires seem to prefer young victims, sinking their canines into necks belonging to people in the prime of their life.
This is, of course, because it makes for a greater, more dramatic story.
But the imaginary bloodsucking night people might be on to something.
In mice, heterochronic parabiosis (connecting the vascular systems of a young and an old mouse) has been shown to aid tissue regeneration, support the immune system, replenish the stem cell stores, and keep the central nervous system firing on all neuronal cylinders.
As you can imagine, some companies smelled potential profits and offered young plasma transfusions. The price tag fluctuates between…
