Rejuvenation: It’s in Our Blood

[Michael Scally MD]

Accepts PayPal & Volume Discount: 1 liter for $8000; 2 liters for $12,000.

A controversial startup that charges $8,000 to fill your veins with young blood now claims to be up and running in 5 cities across the US
A controversial startup that charges $8,000 to fill your veins with young blood now claims to be up and running in 5 cities across the US

• A startup called Ambrosia that charges $8,000 to fill your veins with the blood of young people is now accepting PayPal payments for the procedure online. [Volume Discount: 1 liter for $8000; 2 liters for $12,000] https://www.ambrosiaplasma.com/
• Jesse Karmazin, a Stanford graduate who founded Ambrosia, told Business Insider this week that the company was up and running in five US cities.
• Ambrosia recently completed its first clinical trial designed to assess the benefits of the procedure, but it has yet to publish the results. Karmazin previously told Business Insider the company wanted to open the first clinic in New York City, but that didn't happen.

 

[Michael Scally MD]

Kheifets V, Braithwaite SP. Plasma-Based Strategies for Therapeutic Modulation of Brain Aging. Neurotherapeutics 2019. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13311-019-00746-z

Age is the primary risk factor for the vast majority of disorders, including neurodegenerative diseases impacting brain function. Whether the consequences of aging at the biological level can be reversed, or age-related changes prevented, to change the trajectory of such disorders is thus of extreme interest and value.

Studies using young plasma, the acellular component of blood, have demonstrated that aging is malleable, with the ability to restore functions in old animals. Fascinatingly, this functional improvement is even observed in the brain, despite the blood-brain barrier, indicating that peripheral sources can effectively impact central sites leading to clinically relevant changes such as enhancement of cognitive function.

A plasma-based approach is also attractive as aging is inherently complex, with an array of mechanisms dysregulated in diverse cells and organs throughout the body leading to disturbed function. Plasma, containing a natural mixture of components, has the ability to act multimodally, modulating diverse mechanisms that can converge to change the trajectory of age-related diseases.

Here we review the evidence that plasma modulates aging processes in the brain and consider the therapeutic applications that derive from these observations. Plasma and plasma-derived therapeutics are an attractive translation of this concept, requiring critical consideration of benefits, risks, and ethics.

Ultimately, knowledge derived from this science will drive a comprehensive molecular understanding to deliver optimized therapeutics. The potential of highly differentiated, multimodal therapeutics for treatment of age-related brain disorders provides an exciting new clinical approach to address the complex etiology of aging.

 

[Michael Scally MD]

Vampires 2.0? The ethical quandaries of young blood infusion in the quest for eternal life.

Can transfusions of blood plasma slow down ageing or even rejuvenate people?

Recent preclinical studies and experimental tests inspired by the technique known as parabiosis have aroused great media attention, although for now there is no clear evidence of their effectiveness. This line of research and the interest it is triggering testify to the prominent role played by the idea of combating the “natural” ageing process in the scientific and social agenda.

While seeking to increase the duration of healthy living time may be considered a duty, it also raises ethical questions about how to pursue this goal. Specifically, therapies and techniques accessible only to a fraction of the population seem destined to exponentially increase social inequality and to produce undesirable consequences.

In this article we address the issue precisely in the light of the prospected use of plasma for the rejuvenation of a small elite of people.

Lavazza, A., Garasic, M. Vampires 2.0? The ethical quandaries of young blood infusion in the quest for eternal life. Med Health Care and Philos (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11019-020-09952-5