Journal article

Stress-induced responses of human skin fibroblasts in vitro reflect human longevity

P Dekker, AB Maier, D van Heemst, C de Koning-Treurniet, J Blom, RW Dirks, HJ Tanke, RGJ Westendorp

Aging Cell | WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC | Published : 2009

Abstract

Unlike various model organisms, cellular responses to stress have not been related to human longevity. We investigated cellular responses to stress in skin fibroblasts that were isolated from young and very old subjects, and from offspring of nonagenarian siblings and their partners, representatives of the general population. Fibroblasts were exposed to rotenone and hyperglycemia and assessed for senescence-associated β-galactosidase (SAb-gal) activity by flow cytometry. Apoptosis/cell death was measured with the Annexin-V/PI assay and cell-cycle analysis (Sub-G1 content) and growth potential was determined by the colony formation assay. Compared with fibroblasts from young subjects, baselin..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Grants

Awarded by Innovation Oriented research Program on Genomics


Awarded by Netherlands Genomics Initiative/Netherlands Organization for scientific research


Awarded by EU


Awarded by Netherlands Genomics Initiative


Funding Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the Innovation Oriented research Program on Genomics (SenterNovem; IGE01014 and IGE5007), the Netherlands Genomics Initiative/Netherlands Organization for scientific research (NGI/NWO; 05040202 and 050-060-810) and the EU funded Network of Excellence Lifespan (FP6 036894). Prof. Westendorp is supported by an unrestricted grant from the Netherlands Genomics Initiative (NCHA 050-060-810). The authors thank Judith Campisi and Arturo Orjalo for sharing their experience with the use of rotenone as senescence-inducing agent, Gerard Noppe for his contribution in setting up the flow cytometric SA-beta-gal procedure and Ton de Craen for his expert statistical assistance.