Evidence for Cellular Senescence to be Involved in Cardiac Hypertrophy

In this open access paper, evidence is presented for senescent cells to be involved in the development of age-related cardiac hypertrophy, detrimental changes in the structure of the heart. The results here are somewhat more speculative than much of the recent evidence for cellular senescence to contribute to specific age-related conditions, most of which is direct and robust. Firstly the authors are arguing for senescence to be a relevant mechanism in a cell population that largely doesn't replicate, and therefore will not be generating large numbers of transient senescent cells as somatic cells hit the Hayflick limit. Fewer transient senescent cells means fewer senescent cells that fail to self-destruct and linger to cause issues. Another objection is the animal model used, which did not involve aged individuals, and so there is always the possibility that the type of damage and change in heart tissue caused here is not all that relevant to aging. Nonetheless, the results seem interesting, and there is always the point that fibrosis - a major feature of heart aging - is now well connected to cellular senescence in other tissues. Pathological cardiac hypertrophy is the cellular response to biomechanical or neurohumoral stimuli. The defining features of hypertrophy are increased cardiomyocyte size, enhanced protein synthesis and reinduction of the so-called fetal gene program. Although hypertrophy has traditionally been considered as an adaptive response required to ...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs