INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECTS OF YOUNG AND OLD PLASMA ADMINISTRATIONS ON AGE-RELATED LIVER TISSUE AND ENZYMES

Hikmet Taner Teker ¹, Taha Ceylani ², Seda Keskin ³, Eda Açıkgöz ⁴

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4726-982X

¹Ankara Medipol University, Department of Medical Biology, Ankara, 06050, Turkey, E-mail: taner.teker@ankaramedipol.edu.tr

² Muş Alparslan University, Department of Food Quality Control and Analysis, Muş, 49250, Turkey, E-mail: t.ceylani@alparslan.edu.tr

³ Van Yüzüncü Yıl University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Medical Histology and Embryology, Van, 65090, Turkey, E-mail: sedakeskin@yyu.edu.tr,  sedakeskinist@gmail.com

⁴ Van Yüzüncü Yıl University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Medical Histology and Embryology, Van, 65090, Turkey, E-mail: edaacikgoz@yyu.edu.tr, acikgozedaa@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

Objective: Young plasma administration is one of the effective treatment methods in delaying the burden of aging-related disease and promoting healthy aging. Our understanding of the effects of such alternative therapies on organs associated with aging-related metabolism is limited. This study aimed to reveal the histological and biochemical results of the effects of plasma applications on and young rats on cell and tissue architecture in the rat liver.

Materials and Methods: Sprague Dawley male aged rats (24 months) were treated with pooled plasma (30 days, 0.5 ml, i.v) collected from 5-week-old young rats. Young 5-week-old rats were treated with pooled plasma (30 days, 0.25 ml, i.v) collected from aged rats (24 months). At the end of the experiment, 5µm sections were taken from the paraffin blocks prepared after fixation in buffered formalin for liver samples from all groups. H&E staining was performed for histopathological analysis and PAS staining was used to determine glycogen density in all sections and then evaluated with the light microscope. In addition, serum concentrations of liver enzymes AST, ALT, ALP, LDH, and ALB were measured using commercial kits in an automatic analyzer. All data were analyzed with the SPSS program using an unpaired t-test.

Results: In the histopathological evaluations, we determined that young plasma administration improved hepatic fibrosis as well as other cellular degenerations in aged rat livers, and significantly reduced the amount of adipose tissue and lymphatic infiltration density. There was a significant increase in glycogen accumulation in the hepatocytes of aged rats given young plasma. Young rats given aged plasma had a significant increase in AST levels, while aged rats had significantly increased ALT levels compared to young controls. ALP levels were significantly increased in the young control group compared to the other groups. Aged rats receiving young plasma had a significant increase in albumin levels.

Discussion and Conclusion: Considering young plasma treatments displayed protective and curative effects on aging-related liver enzymes and cell architecture, plasma exchanges can provide supportive data that may guide treatment in the clinic and alternative solutions for the treatment of aging-related metabolic diseases.

Keywords: Young plasma; Aging; Inflammation; Oxidative stress; Liver

Ethical Statement: This study was carried out with the approval of the Ethics Committee (2021/03) obtained from the Saki Yenilli Experimental Animal Production and Application Laboratory.