Young organs may not be a fountain of youth for recipients
Around this time last year I was attending an aging conference in Manchester, listening to a talk about fly aging, when my phone started pinging. News outlets were reporting that a hot mic had caught Russia’s and China’s leaders discussing the possibility of living forever. “With the developments of biotechnology, human organs can be continuously…
In a recent study, scientists have found that transplanted hearts do not rejuvenate the biological age of the recipient, contrary to previous research suggesting otherwise. Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston conducted experiments with mice, where young adult mice were given hearts from middle-aged donors and vice versa.
They used molecular tools, known as "aging clocks," to measure the biological ages of the mice and their transplanted hearts. The results showed that both young and old hearts adopted the biological age of the recipient, regardless of their initial age. This finding emphasizes the complexity of aging and rejuvenation, as the presence of a new heart appears to be influenced by the recipient's immune system and other aged components of the body.
The study also highlights that while transplanting young hearts may rejuvenate mice, the same cannot be said for older hearts or organs. The researchers hope that these findings will encourage surgeons to consider using older donors for heart transplants, despite the assumption that older hearts may not function as well. However, reversing the effects of aging remains a complex challenge, as reversing DNA damage, structural damage, and other degradations in various cells and tissues is a formidable task.
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