As it turns out, vampires may be on to something. Scientists have discovered that a protein called GDF11, which is abundant in young mice, was key to stimulating the hearts, muscles, and brains of old mice. The older mice on the receiving end of the blood transfusions were stronger, faster and less prone to memory loss after getting a bit of young blood running through their veins.

Researchers from Stanford, Harvard and UCSF, built off the work of a much older Cornell University study which actually sounds like the start of an “American Horror Story” plotline.

The research builds on centuries of speculation that the blood of young people contains substances that might rejuvenate older adults.

In the 1950s, Clive M. McCay of Cornell University and his colleagues tested the notion by delivering the blood of young rats into old ones. To do so, they joined rats in pairs by stitching together the skin on their flanks. After this procedure, called parabiosis, blood vessels grew and joined the rats†circulatory systems. The blood from the young rat flowed into the old one, and vice versa.  {NYTimes}

There’s hope that the human version of the blood protein may have similar effects on adults, and help reverse the effects of cognitive diseases like Alzheimer’s. While that’s quite exciting, we really hope the human tests can be carried out through more standard blood transfusions.

Or sexy vampires, who have been having a bit of a moment, and now have a bit of science to support their claims.