Could human cord plasma boost the ageing brain?

Understanding the plastic nature of our brains has opened up potential for new treatments for brain injury patients and may also hold promise for the ageing brain. Research published in the journal Nature reveals a protein present in human umbilical cord plasma can revitalise the hippocampus and improve cognitive function in aged mice.

Tony Wyss-Coray and colleagues from the Stanford University School of Medicine have previously shown that blood-borne factors in young mice can counteract age-related changes in older mice. Here, the authors demonstrate a similar effect for human cord plasma and identify a protein called tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases 2 (TIMP2) that is responsible for the effect.

They hypothesise that plasma of an early developmental stage, namely umbilical cord plasma, provides a reservoir of this plasticity-promoting protein. The research shows that human cord plasma treatment revitalises the hippocampus and improves cognitive function in mice.

Following treatment, aged mice improved in various tests of learning, memory and synaptic plasticity (the brain’s ability to change and adapt to new information). Together, the findings suggests that systemic factors present early in life could help to revitalise aged tissue, and that TIMP2 and/or the cells targeted by it could be useful targets for drug development.

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