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This study reveals that “neutral blood exchange” (NBE)—a procedure that dilutes old blood plasma without adding young blood factors—can rejuvenate tissues and improve brain function in aged mice. Unlike young blood infusions, NBE resets the body’s signaling environment, enhancing muscle and liver repair, hippocampal neurogenesis, and cognitive performance in older mice.

Key findings include:

• Old mice showed improved performance in cognitive tests (e.g., novel object and texture recognition) and reduced neuroinflammation after a single NBE treatment.
• The senolytic drug ABT 263, which targets aging cells, had limited effects compared to NBE, indicating that rejuvenation wasn’t solely due to reduced cellular senescence.
• Proteomics analysis showed that NBE increased markers for brain maintenance and repair in both mice and humans, highlighting the potential of rejuvenating brain health by diluting age-associated factors.

These results support a new paradigm of rejuvenation through the reduction of age-related factors in blood rather than relying on young blood factors.