© BRYAN SATALINOInjecting a protein derived from human umbilical cord plasma—tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases 2 (TIMP2)—into aged mice led to improvements in the rodents’ learning, memory, and synaptic plasticity, researchers reported today (April 19) in Nature.
“Following our previous observations that young mouse plasma can functionally improve the behavior [of old mice], this study now shows that human blood may actually have similar factors,” coauthor Tony Wyss-Coray of the Stanford University School of Medicine in Palo Alto, California, told The Scientist.
The authors “went the extra mile to demonstrate that this protein, TIMP2, is in fact enriched in umbilical cord plasma, but also that it’s a systemic factor that is found in young mice and then decreases in mice with aging,” said Greg Valdez of the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute in Roanoke, who did not participate in the work. “And then they did a series of experiments to demonstrate that this factor, when it is present or when it is ...
