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Celebrating the 100th birthday of the kidney donated to him as a teenager

272 points · 64 comments · gscott

  1. d_silin · · focus · HN ↗
    There is an observation that donated organs sync to a biological age of the recipient.

    <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.inc.com&#x2F;lucia-auerbach&#x2F;can-transplanted-heart-become-biologically-younger-harvard-study-suggest-it-can&#x2F;91411326" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.inc.com&#x2F;lucia-auerbach&#x2F;can-transplanted-heart-be...

    1. etoxin · · focus · HN ↗
      Yeah, this had me thinking. Does transplanting older organs into younger bodies force the body to rejuvenate the transplanted organ to the recipients age.

      Edit: your article say so, neat.

      1. WhyNotHugo · · focus · HN ↗
        I vaguely recall that it&#x27;s the blood itself which has a big impact — to the point where blood transplants from younger blood could (temporarily) &quot;rejuvenate&quot; an older metabolism.
        1. dasyud · · focus · HN ↗
          So Bryan Johnson was onto something when he was transfusing his son&#x27;s blood into himself
          1. selcuka · · focus · HN ↗
            It&#x27;s not complete nonsense. The rejuvenating effects of young blood transfusions have been known for some time.

            <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov&#x2F;articles&#x2F;PMC5836258&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov&#x2F;articles&#x2F;PMC5836258&#x2F;

          2. vasco · · focus · HN ↗
            Farming young humans to expand the lifespan of old rich ones has a little bit of a je ne sais quoi though.
            1. msdz · · focus · HN ↗
              Just kill the donors as soon as possible to end their suffering, then &#x2F;s
          3. f6v · · focus · HN ↗
            I don’t know who that is and I’m sure he couldn’t have transfused “blood”. But parabiosis experiments in mice uncovered that certain components present in young blood (like PF4) can be beneficial.
    2. moffkalast · · focus · HN ↗
      So in theory you could keep an organ alive perpetually if you kept transplanting it every fifty or so years?
      1. ocdtrekkie · · focus · HN ↗
        Well the average kidney transplant works for 15-20 years... so probably not.
        1. DANmode · · focus · HN ↗
          That’s not how causation works.

          People with infection and or endocrine failure who need an organ are more apt to need another organ (due to age - or endocrine failure again).

      2. f6v · · focus · HN ↗
        Speaking strictly theoretically, I don’t think “young” environment can help with telomere shortening.
      3. tliltocatl · · focus · HN ↗
        The problem is histological compatibility, i. e. not getting it ruined by the recipient&#x27;s immune system. The TFA was very lucky having apparently 100% compatibility.
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