---
title: "Yeah, Young Blood Transfusions Do Seem to Fight Aging"
description: "A new study figured out how young blood seems to revitalize older neurons. Two proteins from newborn mouse blood revitalized lab-grown human neurons."
date: "2019-06-03"
modified: "2019-06-03"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/young-blood-transfusions-fight-aging"
categories:
  - "Health & Medicine"
tags:
  - "blood transfusions"
  - "medicine"
  - "the digest"
---

# Yeah, Young Blood Transfusions Do Seem to Fight Aging

![A new study figured out how young blood seems to revitalize older neurons. Two proteins from newborn mouse blood revitalized lab-grown human neurons.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/young-blood-transfusions-fight-aging.png>)
*\<em\>Image: Shutterstock/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Brain Juice

Taking the blood of the young and using it to revitalize the old is a popular concept supported by piecemeal [scientific evidence](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/clinics-blood-young-people>) and [surrounded by hype](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/anti-aging-blood-transfusions-harmful>). But now scientists may have figured out how these transfusions work, thanks to two newly-identified proteins.

Scientists from Stanford University took blood from two groups of mice — one cohort was two weeks old and the other 12 to 15 months old — and applied it to human brain cells grown from embryonic stem cells, [according to *New Scientist*](<https://www.newscientist.com/article/2205133-two-brain-rejuvenating-proteins-have-been-identified-in-young-blood/>). Only the younger group's blood boosted neural development, lending more weight to the idea of medical vampirism.

## Home-Grown

This research helps explain the "how" behind these revitalizing blood transfusions. Two proteins that were found only in the younger mouse blood, THBS4 and SPARCL1, made the lab-grown neurons grow more branches and form twice as many connections, according to [the study](<https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2019/05/29/1902672116>), published in the journal *PNAS*. Both of those factors are signs of healthy and increased neural development.

But that doesn't mean that the clinics out there claiming that young blood transfusions have medical benefits — a dubious assertion, [according to the FDA](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/fda-warns-young-blood-transfusions-scam>) — were right. A pile of neurons, human or not, cultured in a petri dish are not the same as a living human brain, and a great deal of clinical experimentation is necessary before anyone can make substantiated medical claims about young blood transfusions.

**READ MORE:** [Two brain-rejuvenating proteins have been identified in young blood](<https://www.newscientist.com/article/2205133-two-brain-rejuvenating-proteins-have-been-identified-in-young-blood/>) \[*New Scientist*\]

**More on blood transfusions:** *[Vampire Clinic That Sold Young Blood to the Wealthy Closes Shop](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/clinic-sells-blood-fda-warning>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)