Decreased cloning of lymphocytes from elderly individuals.
Limiting-dilution cloning of human lymphocytes was used to study cloning and proliferation of lymphocytes in 10 young and 10 elderly individuals. The cloning efficiency for elderly individuals, 3.5%, was significantly lower than that for young individuals, 19.8%. Mixing experiments showed that this decrease was due to both a decrease in the frequency of the clone-forming cells and a decrease in the interacting ability of the lymphocytes. Lymphocytes from elderly individuals which did form clones, however, proliferated at the same rate as did those from young individuals.
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging; D002455:Cell Division; D002999:Clone Cells / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology