Vampire therapy

Are you ready for some "Vampire Therapy?"

A transfusion of youthful blood may halt or even reverse the aging process as two studies find that the chemical make-up of younger blood has surprising health benefits.

Now scientists have found that young blood actually ‘recharges’ the brain, forms new blood vessels and improves memory and learning.

In parallel research, scientists at Harvard University also discovered that a ‘youth protein’ which circulates in the blood is responsible for keeping the brain and muscles young and strong.

The protein, known as ‘GDF11’, is present in the bloodstream in large quantities when we are young but peters out as we age.

Last year the team discovered that the protein could repair damaged hearts. But the new study showed that that raising the levels of the GDF11 protein in older mice improved the function of every organ in the body.

t is likely that the protein is at least partly responsible for the parallel finding by Stanford University that young blood can reverse the signs of ageing.

In the study, the blood of three-month-old mice was repeatedly injected into 18-month-old mice near the end of their natural life span.

The "vampire therapy" improved the performance of the elderly mice in memory and learning tasks.

Structural, molecular and functional changes were also seen in their brains, the study published in the journal Science found.

Aging mice given eight infusions of young blood over three weeks improved their performance in mental tests of fear condition and locating a hidden platform in a water maze.

Evidence was seen of new connections forming in the hippocampus, a brain region vital to memory and sensitive to aging.

Dendritic spines - finger-like extensions from the branches of neurons that are thought to play a role in memory formation - also became more dense.

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