Rejuvenation of three germ layers tissues by exchanging old blood plasma with saline-albumin.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Preclinical animal model combined with human ex vivo serum proteomic testing (Level 5)
PubMed 32474458 · doi:10.18632/aging.103418
What was done
Old mice underwent a single neutral age blood exchange (NBE), replacing half of their plasma with saline containing 5% albumin. Investigators evaluated muscle repair, liver adiposity and fibrosis, and hippocampal neurogenesis. Comparative proteomic analysis was conducted on mouse NBE serum and human serum from therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE), alongside functional testing of human serum on progenitor cell proliferation.
What was found
The abstract does not provide specific numerical values, sample sizes, or effect sizes. Qualitatively, a single NBE matched or exceeded heterochronic blood exchange in improving muscle repair, decreasing liver adiposity and fibrosis, and increasing hippocampal neurogenesis in old mice. Proteomic analysis of mouse and human post-exchange serum showed a reset in systemic signaling factors, and a single human TPE reversed the age-associated inhibition of progenitor cell proliferation by old serum.
Why it matters
This study challenges the assumption that rejuvenation via blood exchange requires young systemic factors, demonstrating that diluting inhibitory factors in old blood is sufficient across tissues derived from all three germ layers.
Limits
In vivo functional and tissue rejuvenation outcomes were demonstrated only in mice. The human data are limited to ex vivo serum proteomic profiling and cell proliferation assays, without clinical outcome measures. Sample sizes, quantitative changes, and the duration of benefits were not reported in the abstract.
Cited by
- supports Diluting old plasma with saline and albumin rejuvenates old mice without showing any significant effect in young mice.