Blood From Human Umbilical Cords Can Rejuvenate Old Mouse Brains
When a baby is born, the now-useless umbilical cord is usually thrown away. But sometimes, it finds renewed purpose. Parents can decide to donate the blood from the cord to blood banks, which freeze the stem cells within so they can eventually be used to treat people with various cancers and genetic disorders. In the process, plasma—the liquid portion of blood—is usually ignored. But neuroscientist Tony Wyss-Coray thinks this liquid has a purpose, too.
His team at Stanford University School of Medicine has found that plasma from human umbilical cords can rejuvenate the brains of old mice—specifically in an area called the hippocampus that’s vital for learning and memory. Using actual cord plasma “is not something you’d ever want to develop as a treatment,” he says. “It’s very cumbersome and difficult to collect.” But he hopes that by identifying specific beneficial molecules in the fluid, he can develop treatments for conditions like Alzheimer’s. Already, his team has identified a possible candidate—a protein called TIMP2 that seems to underlie
