31st May 2026 Newsletter
Hi guys. This is the seventeenth newsletter from the Rejuvenation Science Institute (ICR). In these newsletters, we will tell you what we've done, since the last newsletter, to accelerate the development of rejuvenation science.
In July 2026, we will test the new composition in a mouse rejuvenation experiment
In July of this year (2026), we will conduct a mouse rejuvenation experiment using the new composition, prepared by following the scientific article published by Harold Katcher in 2024 in the journal Aging Cell. In other words, we won’t have to wait until November of this year (2026) — when we will begin testing the new composition on rats — to find out if the new composition has rejuvenating effects on rodents. It is worth noting that mice weigh about 10% of rats, so the amount of the composition to be produced is much smaller, which means it can be made more quickly.
The experiment with mice will involve only old mice: one group of 9 treated mice and one group of 9 control mice. We will test grip strength, memory, and blood markers. Thus, within a few weeks after the injections in the mice, we will be able to determine if there is any increase in grip strength. Three months after the first dose, the mice will receive a second dose. This time, we will begin the experiment when the mice are middle-aged (12 months old) and conclude it when they are elderly (17 months old). This will ensure that a significant number of mice, including the controls, remain alive after the 5-month experiment.
A study in China uses plasma vesicles from young pigs to reverse Alzheimer's disease in a mouse model of the condition
On May 12 of this year (just over two weeks ago), a scientific article was published in the Journal of Neuroinflammation reporting on an experiment conducted in China in which researchers used small extracellular vesicles from the plasma of young pigs (one week to one month old) to reverse Alzheimer’s disease in a mouse model of the condition. In other words, these were not normal mice, but rather mice genetically engineered to develop Alzheimer’s at a very early stage of life. The article can be accessed by clicking here; it is open access, and the full text is available by downloading the PDF.
Regarding the differences between this study and the one our institute is conducting — aside from the fact that the mice in the study were not healthy mice but Alzheimer’s disease model — the whole test was conducted on animals between 6.5 and 8 months old, a much younger age than that of the mice in our study. A grip strength test was also not performed, as the Chinese study focused on the brain and Alzheimer’s disease. Finally, an important difference is that the researchers did not conduct a longevity test on the animals, even after they showed reversal of Alzheimer’s — mainly because they were not normal mice. In our experiment, if the animals rejuvenate, we intend to let them live until their natural death in a longevity test, as there is no better evidence that the aging process has been influenced than the treated animals living considerably longer than the controls.
Even with these differences, and given the relatively high impact factor of the journal that published the article, this experiment by Chinese scientists provides further evidence that small extracellular vesicles (often called exosomes) from mammals can be used in other mammalian species to promote regeneration and rejuvenation, without significant toxic or immunological effects. Furthermore, this article specifically tested plasma small extracellular vesicles from young pigs, as we are testing at our institute. Thus, Harold Katcher is no longer the only one to have reported significant results with this type of technology. With our experiments — using the new composition and normal mice, among other specificities — we intend to definitively establish the use of small extracellular vesicles (or a portion thereof) from the plasma of young pigs as the first proven and reproducible method for rejuvenating rodents. We will know in a few months. The fight continues!
This is a collective effort
This experiment is a collective effort to reproduce Harold Katcher's seminal study, in which the ICR relies on the contribution of those interested in the realization of the experiment. Thus, if you know someone who might be interested in the content of this newsletter, you can forward it to them. Also, if you are not yet a financial contributor of the ICR, we invite you to become one by clicking on this link.
So that's it. We're carrying on, and we won't rest until we've implemented rejuvenation in human beings. See you next time!