Telomeric Theory of Aging
excelife at earthlink.net
Thu Aug 20 23:30:24 EST 1998
In article <35DB8473.8B2AC22B at netinfo.ubc.ca>, haejin at netinfo.ubc.ca says...
>I'll completely agree with you that research into the role of
>telomeres/telomerase in *cell life* is quite valid, and in fact very
This is a common view and perfectly legitimate. So this research in
conjunction with growth factor research may only be able provide a safe blood
supply, re-grow bones, skin and various organs as well as making a patients
own bone marrow available for transplant among numerous other possibilities.
I guess you could call that interesting.
>But if you want to find the fountain of youth...well, good luck to ya.
Thank you! I think we'll give that a try!
>Like I said before, there are a helluva lot of things that go on that cause
cell death much earlier than the shortening of telomeres to a critical
Of course if the surrounding tissue have sufficient replicative capacity
remaining then most of the cells that die will be replaced.
>Simply lengthening telomeres ain't gonna do it.
On this we do agree! Between the research into telomeres and the various
growth factors we may be able to solve the problems of age-related genetic
expression, cellular prolification and replicative capacity but we would
still have the problems associated with non-replicating cellular systems.
That's one of the reasons the field you are in becomes so important. If
methods could be developed to maintain the viability of neural cells,
possibly utilizing Aubrey de Greys' mitochondrial aging theory, then we could
be well on our way to finding that fabled fountain of youth.
By the way I'm trying to find a cite. from a NASA research study from the
early 70s that caused nerve cells to revert to their embryonic state and
reproduce by changing the ionic charge across their cellular membranes. If
you can find the citatation for this or similar experimentation I would
greatly appreciate it.
Thomas Mahoney, Pres.
Lifeline Laboratories, Inc.
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