Can Transfusing ‘Young Blood’ into Older Adults Really Reverse Aging? Here’s What the Experiments Show

[Science Café] Nanjing University Researchers in China Report 22% Increase in Mouse Lifespan

U.S. millionaire Bryan Johnson, who reportedly spends around KRW 2.5 billion annually on anti-aging efforts including plasma exchange, recently shared comparison photos of himself from 2018, 2023, and 2024 on X, formerly Twitter.
Photo: Chosun Ilbo DB

Could the long-standing hypothesis that transfusing “young blood” into older individuals can improve health and slow aging actually be true? A research team in China recently reported evidence of such effects in experiments involving mice.

Researchers from the Department of Biotechnology at Nanjing University in China announced last month that, after approximately seven years of research involving hundreds of mice, they found that administering anti-aging factors isolated from the blood of young mice extended lifespan and slowed several aspects of aging. The findings were published in the international journal Nature Aging.

The researchers administered the anti-aging substances weekly to experimental mice and monitored changes over time. While the average lifespan of the control mice was approximately 840 days, the treated mice lived an average of 1,031 days, representing a 22.7% increase in lifespan.

The longest-lived mouse survived for 1,266 days, which the researchers compared to a human lifespan of roughly 120 to 130 years. They also observed slower age-related deterioration in tissues including muscle, heart, and bone.

The idea that blood exchange using younger blood could help promote rejuvenation or longevity has existed for many years, and numerous experiments have explored the concept. According to the researchers, however, earlier studies largely focused on the potential anti-aging effects of soluble protein factors in young blood without clearly identifying the underlying mechanisms.

Dr. Zhang Chenyu, who led the research, told the South China Morning Post, “We accumulated data from hundreds of mice over seven years to investigate the effects of ‘young blood.’ This study is only the beginning, and there is still much more to uncover.”

Experiments involving blood exchange have also been carried out outside the laboratory. U.S. millionaire Bryan Johnson, known for his extensive anti-aging efforts, claimed last May that after transfusing his own plasma to his father, his father’s biological age decreased by the equivalent of 25 years.

Johnson conducted a three-generation plasma exchange experiment in which he received plasma from his 17-year-old son and then donated his own plasma to his father. He later said that receiving his son’s plasma did not produce any meaningful effect for him, but claimed that his father maintained a slower rate of aging for approximately six months.