A recent study published in The FASEB Journal examined the effect of young plasma on aged livers, and livers' sensitivity to ischemia reperfusion injury (IRI) in experimental animals. IRI occurs when blood flow to an organ is temporarily interrupted, and can be a serious postoperative complication of liver resection and transplantation, especially among elderly patients.
Recent studies suggest that blood from young animals has therapeutic potential to prevent age-related phenomena, including liver damage. To test this theory, Liu and colleagues examined three groups of rats.
The first was pretreated with injections of young animal-derived plasma, while the second was pretreated with plasma from old animals. The third group served as the control. The three groups were then exposed to ischemia reperfusion in the liver. The researchers observed less liver injury in the first group than the others, demonstrating that young plasma has a protective effect that reduces injury under ischemia reperfusion.
"Reducing IRI is of paramount importance, especially for older populations," stated Anding Liu, MD, PhD, a researcher at the Experimental Medicine Center, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, within the Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, China. "This study suggests the exciting concept that rejuvenating factors in young plasma may be the key to maintaining long-lasting health."
"The notion of mammalian, age-dependent blood-borne factors that can confer trans-acting protections or ameliorations of various kinds is over a century old, and often controversial, but here we have a clear, welcome case," said Thoru Pederson, PhD, Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal.
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This research was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Fund of China (NSFC).
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