John Saario (sjohn at u.washington.edu) wrote:
> Cell division can be correlated with youth, of course, since developing
> organisms must increase cell number and are "young" by definition. Does
> this necessarily mean that if cells never stopped dividing we would never
> age or die and that this is the answer to stop the process of ageing? It
> seems a likely point to start research but I don't think that the
> restriction on the number of times a cell may divide is limiting life span
> in our society.
Pardon the answer of a non-scientist-but-interested-amateur; but I think
cell division-rate is only part of the equation. The DNA of older
organisms is much more at the effect of free-radical attack that leads to
mutation. The more exposure over time, the more mutation and the more
problems there will be dividing successfully.
Well, I think that's close.
--
__ ___ dman at netcom.com
(/ \ _ /) /) _ _ _ _ _ (/__) _ _ _ dross at well.sf.ca.us
/` )(_(_( _(__/|/|/(_(_(_/| ( / ( (_)_/_)_/_)_ 350 Perkins St., #108
(___/ ` ( \ Oakland, CA 94610-3422
