Younger blood less powerful

2017/11/06 Galarraga Aiestaran, Ana - Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Medikuntza

According to Kondaire, vampires achieve immortality thanks to the blood of young people. And like many other legends, that has a real basis. In fact, in experiments with mice, they have seen that the blood of young people rejuvenates the elderly. Specifically, they have shown that the blood transfusions of young people are effective in reducing age-related alterations.

Hoping to obtain these results in people, Standford University researcher Tony Wiss-Coray requested the authorization of a clinical trial. And get it. He has tested volunteers with mild or medium Alzheimer's symptoms and has now presented his first results. From the beginning he has warned that it is too early to draw final conclusions. In any case, it recognizes that it has had no significant effects.

The experiment involved 18 volunteers aged between 54 and 86. For four weeks, once a week, half of the volunteers have received a physiological serum and the other half have received a plasma transfusion. This plasma was obtained from blood donors aged 18 to 30 years, eliminating red blood cells from the blood.

According to the researcher, the first results show that treatment has no serious side effects. The benefit has not been very significant. The cognitive abilities, mood and ability to lead an autonomous life were measured and, in general, they have not experienced any significant improvement. However, some of the volunteers performed better than before in certain daily activities, such as buying or preparing meals.

It should be noted that this type of research is for the moment unique in humans, so it has not been possible to compare with any other results. In addition, the group of volunteers was small. Therefore, scientists have taken the results with prudence.

Wiss-Coray, however, has not lost hope and has announced its intention to carry out a new experiment. In fact, it aims to use the plasma that has been eliminated not only the red blood cells of the blood, but also the proteins and other molecules, since in the mouse it has given better results than the total plasma. In addition, it wants to increase the number of volunteers.

Other researchers are less optimistic. They consider that this type of transfusions can be dangerous without knowing exactly what the mechanism of action of plasma is in ageing processes. Meanwhile, as no special authorization is required to perform blood transfusions, some U.S. clinics already offer transfusions with a promise to stop aging. For money, of course.

Published in the newspaper Berria.