9/01/2011 PERMALINK
Blood plasma from the young can improve the performance of old brains. Tony Wyss-Coray, a neuroscientist at Stanford University has uncovered chemical signals in aged blood that can dampen the growth of new brain cells, suggesting that the decline in brain function with age could be caused in part by blood-borne factors rather than an intrinsic failure of brain cells. Older mice, in contrast, injected with blood plasma from younger mice had an increase in new neurons, less inflammation, and greater activity at synapses. "You could almost call this a rejuvenation effect," Wyss-Coray says.