Rejuvenating the blood and bone marrow to slow aging-associated cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease

Abstract

Parabiosis, blood exchange and plasma transfer experiments have highlighted the rejuvenating properties of young blood. Our Communications Biology study demonstrated that young bone marrow transplantation attenuates cognitive decline in old mice, with preservation of hippocampal synapses and reduced microglial reactivity. We now discuss subsequent studies that shed additional light on how blood impacts cognitive function, and potential clinical applications, including ongoing clinical trials with young plasma and experimental strategies targeting the hematopoietic system to slow or reverse cognitive decline.

Fig. 1. Potential peripheral interventions to prevent or rescue aging-associated cognitive decline.

A greater understanding of the impacts of circulating factors on the hippocampus may inform strategies to replace youthful factors lost during aging (a) or neutralize pro-aging factors (b). Alternatively, it may be more effective to deliver young or rejuvenated HSCs (c) or differentiated hematopoietic cells (d), or to target the bone marrow niche to rejuvenate endogenous HSCs (e).