Replicative mosaicism might explain the seeming contradictions in the telomere theory of aging.
All living organisms are regarded as a mosaic of cells with different replicative histories explaining all the contradictions in the telomere theory of aging. Exhausted proliferative potential of cells in some areas of the organ tissue might be sufficient to promote one of the age-dependent diseases. Thus a combination of these disorders, gradually increasing with age, is aging. Nobody dies because of the age. Nothing other than the age-related diseases occur with age, and if we separate these diseases, we will get not just a healthy old man, but according to Dr Hayflick's new hypothesis (Exp. Gerontol., 33 (1998) 639) a healthy young man, if not a newborn child.
Mikhelson
V M
VM
Institute of Cytology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Tikhoretski 4, St. Petersburg 194064, Russia. mikhels@mail.cytspb.rssi.ru
D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D016922:Cellular Senescence; D006801:Humans; D009030:Mosaicism; D016615:Telomere / Q000502:physiology*