Researchers have discovered that the blood from umbilical cord contains powerful stem cells that can regenerate tissue, reduced inflammation, and heal the body.  Some researchers are even using the stem cells found in umbilical cord blood to grow organs!

New research published in the journal Nature indicates that umbilical cord blood may also be used to rejuvenate the brain’s hippocampus.  A Stanford University research team led by Dr. Tony Wyss-Coray made the findings.  They found that injecting umbilical cord blood plasma into mice rejuvenated their hippocampus, improving their memory and learning capacity.

The hippocampus is a section of the brain that is primarily responsible for the storage of long-term memories.  As humans age, the performance of the hippocampus gradually declines, a phenomenon known as age-related cognitive decline.

The researchers tested three kinds of blood plasma on the elderly mice to see if their cognitive abilities improved.  Blood plasma from older humans, blood plasma from younger humans and umbilical cord blood.  They found that the blood from umbilical cord was the most effective at rejuvenating the hippocampus.

The team then performed experiments in an effort to understand why cord blood was more effective.  They found that the blood from umbilical cord contains high levels of a metalloproteinase inhibitor called TIMP2.

Suspecting that TIMP2 was promoting rejuvenation of the hippocampus, they injected the protein directly into ageing mice.  They found that their memory and capacity to learning quickly improved.

The next step will be discovering why TIMP2 promotes the rejuvenation of the hippocampus.  The research community is very excited by the discovery and hope that it may lead to a treatment to slow or stop age-related cognitive decline.

Source: Umbilical Cord Blood Tied to Hippocampal Rejuvenation

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