Systemic Telomere Length and Aging
Telomeres represent essential structure for genome stability, since their role is to protect the extremities of linear chromosomes from degradation and recombination. Furthermore, they also participate in the nuclear architecture, as well as in the meiosis-specific genome recombination and reorganization.
Telomere length is the result of the equilibrium between shortening and lengthening mechanisms, and in many different organisms there is a decrease in lenght with increasing age. This suggests that the activity of the enzyme telomerase (which is a specialized reverse transcriptaze) is limiting, even in stem cell compartments.
Telomere and aging
Aging is usually defined as the progressive functional loss of tissue function that eventually leads to death. This can stem from diminished function or complete loss of postmitotic cells, but also from the inability of stem cells to adequately …show more content…
Most tissues and organs in humans show substantial telomere shortening during ageing process, including peripheral blood cells, vascular endothelial cells, hepatocytes, kidney epithelium, muscle cells and many others.
Since telomere shortening can trigger cell senescence in vitro, current theory is that telomere shortening represents a dominant cause of tissue dysfunction that characterizes the aging process in vivo; hence, telomere length is increasingly being accepted as a valid biomarker of aging. For that purpose, peripheral blood leukocyte telomere length is a best way to asses systemic telomere length.
The rate of telomere shortening with age is different between men and women, and can be influenced by different factors that accelerate aging and the risk of premature death by negatively affecting telomere length - most notably stress, smoking, lack of exercise obesity and socioeconomic
Telomeres represent essential structure for genome stability, since their role is to protect the extremities of linear chromosomes from degradation and recombination. Furthermore, they also participate in the nuclear architecture, as well as in the meiosis-specific genome recombination and reorganization.
Telomere length is the result of the equilibrium between shortening and lengthening mechanisms, and in many different organisms there is a decrease in lenght with increasing age. This suggests that the activity of the enzyme telomerase (which is a specialized reverse transcriptaze) is limiting, even in stem cell compartments.
Telomere and aging
Aging is usually defined as the progressive functional loss of tissue function that eventually leads to death. This can stem from diminished function or complete loss of postmitotic cells, but also from the inability of stem cells to adequately …show more content…
Most tissues and organs in humans show substantial telomere shortening during ageing process, including peripheral blood cells, vascular endothelial cells, hepatocytes, kidney epithelium, muscle cells and many others.
Since telomere shortening can trigger cell senescence in vitro, current theory is that telomere shortening represents a dominant cause of tissue dysfunction that characterizes the aging process in vivo; hence, telomere length is increasingly being accepted as a valid biomarker of aging. For that purpose, peripheral blood leukocyte telomere length is a best way to asses systemic telomere length.
The rate of telomere shortening with age is different between men and women, and can be influenced by different factors that accelerate aging and the risk of premature death by negatively affecting telomere length - most notably stress, smoking, lack of exercise obesity and socioeconomic