Discovering the Fountain of Youth is an ancient quest (no pun intended). One of the latest experiments to reverse the clock that causes tinnitus is a technique called therapeutic plasma exchange, a procedure that filters and replaces the liquid portion of your blood. Study 2025 in senescent cell It suggests that this technology could reduce biological age by two and a half years.
But before you start Googling “plasma clinics near me,” it’s important to look beyond the headlines to find out what the study says, and what it means — and doesn’t mean — about the new plasma as an anti-aging elixir.
Why are longevity experts interested in plasma?
Plasma is more than just the fluid that surrounds the red and white blood cells in the bloodstream. Although it is composed mostly of water, it is also rich in proteins, metabolites, hormones and inflammatory signals, which are molecules that reflect and influence what is happening across the body’s systems. Andrea Mayer, MD, PhDa geriatrician and board member of the Academy of Health and Lifespan Research, tells SELF.
“It’s a transportation system like DHL, a way to move things from your brain to your muscles, from your kidneys to your lungs, etc. So it’s a fluid that contains a lot of information,” she says.
This makes it a smart focal point for longevity studies because it can capture a wide-angle view of your body’s internal state, sometimes called “biological age.” By measuring changes in the levels of thousands of proteins circulating in plasma, you can get an idea of how well you are doing.
What that means is that you may be 40 years old, but your biology behaves more like a 30-year-old or a 50-year-old. It’s not a consistent or accurate measurement, but it is useful health information. Keenan Walker, Ph.Dsays senior researcher at the National Institute on Aging.
“There is no single biological age, but people try to estimate it,” he says. “And what studies have found is that people whose biological age is older than their chronological age are more susceptible to chronic disease, illness and mortality.”
About 15 years ago, researchers began exploring the relationship between plasma and the aging process. This led to experiments using a process called parabiosis, a surgical technique that links the circulatory systems of two different organisms. In studies, researchers will link the systems of old mice and young mice together, with the hypothesis that if you distribute younger plasma into an older organism, the older organism’s body will reap the benefits.
