Study: Umbilical Cord Blood Is A Potential Fix For Age-Related Cognitive Problems
- 7 years ago
As we age, many of us experience a slowing down of some cognitive functions like memory and learning ease. Fear not, because researchers with the Stanford University School of Medicine may be on the verge of fixing that.
As we age, many of us experience a slowing down of some cognitive functions like memory and learning ability.
Fear not, because researchers with the Stanford University School of Medicine may be on the verge of fixing that.
A recent study showed that human umbilical cord blood contains a magic elixir for such woes.
Notably, at this time, it’s only known to work in mice, but, nonetheless, the dazzling results have left the team quite optimistic.
Springboarding off a previous study that showed the blood plasma from young mice can do wonders for the elders among the species, the team worked to determine if even younger plasma would yield even better results.
In pursuit of that knowledge, they drew material from human umbilical cords and injected it into senior rodents.
A release about the study notes, “When the older mice received human umbilical-cord blood plasma every fourth day for two weeks, many measures of hippocampal function improved notably. Plasma from older people, on the other hand, didn’t help at all, while young-adult plasma induced an intermediate effect. And older mice’s performance on the…maze and other tests was stellar in comparison with mice of the same age who got injections of saline instead of plasma.”
Through further research the researchers were able to identify the specific beneficial agent, a protein called TIMP2.
More study is needed to see if humans would experience similarly astounding cognitive comebacks, but, for now, at least there’s hope.
As we age, many of us experience a slowing down of some cognitive functions like memory and learning ability.
Fear not, because researchers with the Stanford University School of Medicine may be on the verge of fixing that.
A recent study showed that human umbilical cord blood contains a magic elixir for such woes.
Notably, at this time, it’s only known to work in mice, but, nonetheless, the dazzling results have left the team quite optimistic.
Springboarding off a previous study that showed the blood plasma from young mice can do wonders for the elders among the species, the team worked to determine if even younger plasma would yield even better results.
In pursuit of that knowledge, they drew material from human umbilical cords and injected it into senior rodents.
A release about the study notes, “When the older mice received human umbilical-cord blood plasma every fourth day for two weeks, many measures of hippocampal function improved notably. Plasma from older people, on the other hand, didn’t help at all, while young-adult plasma induced an intermediate effect. And older mice’s performance on the…maze and other tests was stellar in comparison with mice of the same age who got injections of saline instead of plasma.”
Through further research the researchers were able to identify the specific beneficial agent, a protein called TIMP2.
More study is needed to see if humans would experience similarly astounding cognitive comebacks, but, for now, at least there’s hope.