title: Reflections on the role of senescence during development and aging.
abstract: New and stimulating results have challenged the concept that cellular senescence might not be synonymous with aging. It is indisputable that during aging, senescent cell accumulation has an impact on organismal health. Nevertheless, senescent cells are now known to display physiological roles during embryonic development, during wound healing repair and as a cellular response to stress. The fact that senescence has been found in cells that did not attain their maximal round of replications, nor have metabolic alterations or DNA damage, also challenges the paradigm that senescence is cellular aging, and it is in favor of the idea that cellular senescence is a phenomenon that has a function by itself. Therefore, in order to understand this phenomenon it is important to analyze the relationship between senescence and other cellular responses that have many features in common, such as apoptosis, cancer and autophagy, particularly highlighting their role during development and adulthood.
authors.affiliation: Dept. Ciencias de la Salud, DCBS, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Iztapalapa, México D.F. 09340, Mexico.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Triana-Martínez
authors.affiliation: Dept. Ciencias de la Salud, DCBS, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Iztapalapa, México D.F. 09340, Mexico.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pedraza-Vázquez
authors.affiliation: Dept. Ciencias de la Salud, DCBS, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Iztapalapa, México D.F. 09340, Mexico.
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Maciel-Barón
authors.affiliation: Dept. Ciencias de la Salud, DCBS, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Iztapalapa, México D.F. 09340, Mexico. Electronic address: mkf@xanum.uam.mx.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Königsberg
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D016922:Cellular Senescence / Q000502:physiology*; D004249:DNA Damage; D006801:Humans
keywords: Aging; Apoptosis; Autophagy; Cancer; Senescence; Stress