In article 100000 at essex.hsc.colorado.edu, kruged at ESSEX.HSC.COLORADO.EDU (Edward Krug) writes:
>Another observation which should be considered for mortal cells in
>culture, and that is that fibroblasts kept in a non-replicating state
>with low serum levels age even without replicating. The number of
>doublings they are capable of deminishes even though they technically
>have not used up the lost potential.
That sounds very interesting to me ! Actually, I like that idea.
The telomere idea is fascinating, but I never liked that it is totally unrelated to
other ageing theories/mechanisms. If the above mentioned is true it could mean that
the cell is actually damaged by "metabolic time" if it is replicating or not. Under
normal culture conditions enough damage has accumulated after 50-60 doublings (in
humans) to impair and prevent the quite complicated process of mitosis.
True, telomeres are probably getting shorter in man, but this might be completely
irrelevant for the ageing process. This would explain why mice telomeres don't seem
to shorten and they nevertheless age.
Is there any reference for the above mentioned available ? Which experiments have
been done ?
Axel Kowald
