A NEW LINK BETWEEN AGING CELLS AND AGING PEOPLE
Researchers have debated for decades whether aging at the organismal level was linked to aging at the cellular level. Did bodies and metabolisms malfunction as people grew older because, at a microscopic level, cells hit their replicative limits, broke down and clogged up the system?
In November, gerontologists showed that flushing old, broken-down cells from the bodies of mice indeed slowed their descent into infirmity. It was a powerful proof of principle: so-called cellular senescence did matter. And while the same trick can't be performed for people as was performed in this one strain of genetically modified mice, the findings could seed a whole new generation of aging research.
Image: At left, two mice, one (top) treated to rid it of senescent cells, and the other untreated; at right, untreated bone marrow cells (top) and treated cells. (Baker et al./Nature)