On February 3 Mr.Hang-Jun Jang wrote:
>>I am very interested in the aging mechanism.
>According to Hayflick's theory, the definite capacity of proliferation of
>the somatic cells may be the cause of aging.
>Is there anybody who explain it to me?
>
First of all, the true author of this theory is famous German biologist
August Weismann who has published a lot on this topic in 1882-1892
a century before Dr.Hayflick ! Experimental evidence for limited
capacity of cell cultures for proliferation was provided by another
American scientist Dr.H.Earle Swim in 1957-1959, also before Dr.Hayflick.
For this reason the whole concept could be called Weismann-Swim-Hayflick
(W-S-H) concept.
Critical review of this concept could be found in our debates with
Dr.Hayflick published by BioEssays, 1994, vol.16, p.591-594, and also
in our book "The Biology of Life Span: A Quantitative Approach", Harwood
Academic Publishers, NY, 1991 where this W-S-H concept is critically discussed
in great detail.
Sincerely yours,
Dr.Leonid A.Gavrilov, Ph.D.
Director, Center for Longevity Research
A.N.Belozersky Institute
Moscow State University