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By freezing your own healthy blood stem cells in your 20s, thawing them and undergoing a stem cell transplant in your 40s or 50s, it might be possible to rejuvenate your blood-forming and immune systems. Science fiction? At least it works when old mice receive healthy blood stem cells from young mice.

edited by Lisa Lock , reviewed by Andrew Zinin

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Mice live only a couple of years at most. That makes them suitable for use in aging research: Their aging process happens at a furious pace compared with that of humans.

"The study was conducted in mice, and although biological aging in mice and humans is very similar, clinical treatments are still a long way off. But the study has shown that it's possible to safely replace aging and defective blood stem cells," says David Bryder, professor of molecular hematology at Lund University, of the research published in Nature Communications .

When we are young and healthy, there is a perfect balance in our blood-forming system. Every second, millions of blood cells are produced in our bodies at a steady rate. Stem cells in the bone marrow can sense how many of the different types of blood cells are needed—red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. Red blood cells carry oxygen, white blood cells are immune cells needed by the body's immune system, and platelets help the blood clot.