Approaching the limit

Aging has little going for it, but it beats the alternative. We cannot avoid senescence. The Hayflick limit is the number of times a normal human cell population will divide until cell division stops (fig. 1).[1] The chromosomal telomeres associated with each cell’s DNA become slightly shorter with each new cell division until they shorten to a critical length, allowing no further divisions. Thus, as the German poet Theodor Fontane, remarked in his poem Abgang (Exit): Das Beste was es sendet ist das Wissen, dass es endet.

Source: Trends in Cardiovascular Medicine - December 18, 2014 Category: Cardiology Authors: Friedrich C. Luft Source Type: research