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Old Hearts Become Biologically Younger When Transplanted Into Younger People
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In Short: Researchers found that when older hearts were transplanted into younger mice, the hearts showed signs of rejuvenation.
Conversely, younger hearts transplanted into older mice exhibited signs of accelerated aging.
The study, detailed in ScienceAlert, analyzed DNA methylation patterns in the transplanted hearts.
These patterns indicated that the biological age of the heart was influenced by the age of the recipient, not the donor.
The research also revealed that the structure and function of transplanted hearts were more closely aligned with the recipients' ages than the donors' ages.
What's still developing
- And when the researchers analyzed DNA methylation in those samples, they found much the same thing they had seen in mice.
- That meant an older heart transplanted into a younger person showed signs of biological rejuvenation, while a younger heart transplanted into an older person appeared biologically older than its chronological age would suggest.
- When the researchers analyzed the records, they found that several aspects of the transplanted hearts' structure and function were associated with the recipients' ages, rather than the ages of the donors.