An Example of the Beneficial Role of Senescence in Injury

Researchers here provide an interesting demonstration of the beneficial role of transient cellular senescence in injury. Applying senolytics to selectively destroy senescent cells immediately following traumatic injury greatly worsens the consequences. Senescent cells are harmful when they build up and linger in tissues over the course of later life. The signaling they generate is useful in the short-term, such as by mobilizing the response to injury in numerous cell populations, but very damaging when sustained for the long term. This dynamic is one of the reasons why we should favor infrequent senolytic therapies that destroy only the harmful, lingering senescent cells, rather than continuing treatments that would negatively impact regeneration and other functions by also destroying transient senescent cells. It's called senescence, when stressed cells can no longer divide to make new cells, and it's considered a factor in aging and in some diseases. Now scientists have some of the first evidence that at a younger age at least, senescent cells show up quickly after a major injury and are protective. Their model is hemorrhagic shock, a significant loss of blood and the essential oxygen and nutrients it delivers that accounts for about 30-40% of trauma-related deaths from things like car accidents and shootings; and their focus the liver, one of the many major organs that can fail in response. Shortly after hemorrhagic shock occurs, a population of liver cells...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs