Human Cell and Organism Aging: Are There Limits? Interrupted Case Study on Cell Aging
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Human Cell and Organism Aging: Are there Limits? Interrupted Case study on Cell Aging Teresa Gonya Department of Biological Sciences University of Wisconsin-Fox Valley Menasha, WI The search for the fountain of youth persists in advertising, and individuals are constantly bombarded with messages about diet, exercise, vitamins and minerals that can help prolong one’s life. The biological basis of aging is often not mentioned in the anti-aging promotions. Is it possible that a diet rich in protein, or fruits and vegetables can add years to your life? Is it possible that a vitamin or mineral ‘tonic’ can promote tissue repair and extend life? Is it possible that a vitamin drink can extend your normal life expectancy? Even clinical medicine focuses on developing new treatments that are based on preventing aging and maintaining organ longevity. We are told to exercise to keep our heart healthy and to stop smoking to prevent damage to body tissues, especially the lungs and blood vessels. The new field of regenerative medicine is based on the premise that stem cells may one day be able to repair tissue and return function to damaged organs. There are real limits to longevity that are based on genetics, lifestyle, medical history and sociology. (1) At the foundation of organism longevity is cell longevity. All organisms are composed of cells. Four different types of tissue cells form the basis of all organs that are found in any animal organism. Each type of tissue cell has a different ability to undergo mitosis and replace itself, should it become damaged or injured. In general, nerve and muscle tissue have the least potential for cell replacement; connective and epithelial tissue have the greatest potential for cell replacement. Part of this difference is the potential for persistent stem cells to replace damaged tissue. (2) Persistent stem cells are present in most tissues, although many of them (such as nerve cells) are inactivated by potent inhibitors that block mitosis and cell division. (3) Our understanding of how cells and tissues age is based on the research of many scientists who first studied cell cultures. In the process of investigating methods to obtain good cell culture lines, one group of scientists discovered important information about how long a typical cell lives.(4) Our current ideas of organism aging are based on the early cell culture studies of Leonard Hayflick and Paul Moorhead. Key Terms to Understand HeLa cells heteroploid diploid karyotype transformation confluent Barr body © 2007 Teresa Gonya 1 PART 1: Initial insights circa 1950 “So far so good!” Leonard Hayflick was reviewing his notes on the cell lines that had been growing in the culture media for the last month. So far the fibroblast cultures he had begun from the fetal tissues showed no signs of transformation or heteroploidy. This was the 20th cell culture line that he had begun from fetal tissue, and the fibroblasts still resembled the original fetal tissue cells he had isolated. The cultures from liver, kidney and lung were all performing in a similar manner. He reached across the table to turn on the bunsen burner. It was time to transfer the cells to new culture media. Twice each week the cells were transferred and allowed to grow into new sheets of cells on the culture dish. The confluent cell cultures needed careful monitoring to be certain that the cells remained viable. So far, his idea to culture normal human fetal cells had provided consistent results to support his hypothesis that normal cell cultures could be maintained for long periods of time. He currently had cell cultures from different fetuses that were growing in his lab. Similar work with adult human tissue cells had found both normal and tumor cell cultures did not survive indefinitely without changes in chromosome appearance and number. 1. What is the hypothesis that Hayflick is testing? 2. What are the two events that Dr. Hayflick is monitoring to be sure the cultured fetal cells are still identical to the original cells that he isolated from the fetal source? 3. Dr. Hayflick was using fibroblasts from different fetal tissues in his samples. Why do you think that fibroblasts and fetal cells were used in his studies? 4. What did the scientists working on tissue culture hope to accomplish with their work? (optional) 5. What was the most likely source of the fetal tissues that were used in the Hayflick lab studies? © 2007 Teresa Gonya 2 Part 2: Cultures disrupted Dr. Hayflick looked down through the microscope. He blinked and rubbed his eyes to be sure he was seeing the image correctly. Most of the cells had transformed again. His frustration was evident as he stood up and began to pace around the lab. The fibroblasts no longer looked spindle-shaped, and were scattered in loose arrays in the culture dish instead of confluent sheets. Many of the cells were heteroploid, and multiple Barr bodies were visible in cells scattered in the vial. These cultures had been growing for 6 months and most of the cells had replicated between 40 to 45 times before showing signs of cell deterioration. “Cell passage seems to be limited for these cells” he muttered. The damage visible to the cells in culture was similar to the results that other cell scientists had observed. He wondered, "Will the frozen samples be any different?" When the original cell samples had been isolated from the fetal tissue, Dr. Hayflick had set aside several duplicate cell cultures and frozen them (at -700C). He had thought they would be needed for replicate experiments, and wanted to be sure the cell cultures could be grown again from the same source. Tomorrow he would work with his students to begin new cell cultures from the frozen samples. 1. How did Dr. Hayflick know that the cultures had changed? 2. Why did Dr. Hayflick freeze samples of his initial fetal cells? 3. What can Dr. Hayflick learn from this initial experiment with the fetal cell fibroblast culture? 4. There are new factors that need to be considered in the design of the second experiment that were not present in the first set of studies. How should Dr. Hayflick test his hypothesis with the frozen cells? © 2007 Teresa Gonya 3 Part 3: A different angle The Hayflick lab attempted to establish a strain of permanent fetal fibroblast cultures that maintain their diploid number and form confluent cell sheets like normal cultured cells. Imagine you are a graduate student in his lab, and you are working together with Dr. Hayflick to improve the study. “The initial studies revealed that the cells had a limited life cycle of about 40-45 replications”, remarked Paul. “Is it possible that the cells can’t grow any longer without changing?” “The HeLa cell lines have been established since 1950, and their replication does not seem to be impaired,” contributed Jon. Dr. Hayflick nodded. “Those cell lines are proving that cells can stay in culture for long periods of time. But they are also tumor cells, so that changes their normal cell division response.” “The last culture dish was counted yesterday,” added Lee. “All the cells looked just fine after 35 passages (cell replications). The karyotype appears normal with no signs of heteroploidy. All cells appear normal in appearance, and were covering the culture tray in confluent layers.” “This cell culture had been frozen after 9 replication cycles had occurred,” continued Dr. Hayflick. “and it appears to look normal after 35 additional cycles. So that is a total of 44 cell division cycles it has experienced. It is only a matter of time to see if the frozen cell cultures behave the same as the original samples,” he added. His lab was using a modified protocol to determine just how long cells might stay in a healthy culture environment, and produce cells that are diploid and behave like typical fibroblasts. “Here is the new data we have so far.” Lee distributed the graph of the new results to the lab members. (Figure 1) “Each culture was established and growing for several months before cells were removed and frozen to establish a second cell culture line (B cell group). Subcultures were removed from the B group and frozen at different points in the culture life. Group C had gone through 35 cell division cycles, group D through 30 cycles, group E through 20 cycles and group F through 18 cycles. Each cell culture group had been frozen for various periods of time, in order to determine if the freezing time made any difference in the behavior of the cells.” Figure 1. History of fetal tissue samples (strain WI-1) Series A represents a continuous cultivation of the cell through 50 passages. Surplus cultures were removed at various passages and stored at -700C. The storage times are indicated by vertical dashed lines with the months of storage shown by the number on the line. The cell cycles (passages) before the cultures were removed and frozen are indicated as well as the length of time the cultures remained viable.(4) 1. What do you think Dr. Hayflick and his students concluded from this data? © 2007 Teresa Gonya 4 Part 4: A final conclusion? The scientists in Dr. Hayflick's lab concluded that cell cultures could be maintained in culture for 40 to 50 replications whether they were frozen previously or started from a fresh culture. The cell nucleus appeared to experience heteroploidy (different chromosome appearance or number) at a higher rate after 45 divisions, and most became unable to replicate after 50 subcultivations. Lee and Jon walked into the lab meeting beaming with excitement.