Stem cell theory of aging
The stem cell theory of aging postulates that the aging process is the result of the inability of various types of stem cells to continue to replenish the tissues of an organism with functional differentiated cells capable of maintaining that tissue's original function. Damage and error accumulation in genetic material is always a problem for systems regardless of the age. The number of stem cells in young people is very much higher than older people and thus creates a better and more efficient replacement mechanism in the young contrary to the old. In other words, aging is not a matter of the increase in damage, but a matter of failure to replace it due to a decreased number of stem cells. Stem cells decrease in number and tend to lose the ability to differentiate into progenies or lymphoid lineages and myeloid lineages.
Maintaining the dynamic balance of stem cell pools requires several conditions. Balancing proliferation and quiescence along with homing and self-renewal of hematopoietic stem cells are favoring elements of stem cell pool maintenance while differentiation, mobilization and senescence are detrimental elements. These detrimental effects will eventually cause apoptosis.
There are also several challenges when it comes to therapeutic use of stem cells and their ability to replenish organs and tissues. First, different cells may have different lifespans even though they originate from the same stem cells, meaning that aging can occur differently in cells that have longer lifespans as opposed to the ones with shorter lifespans. Also, continual effort to replace the somatic cells may cause exhaustion of stem cells.
Research
Some of the proponents of this theory have been Norman E. Sharpless, Ronald A. DePinho, Huber Warner, Alessandro Testori and others. Warner came to this conclusion after analyzing human case of Hutchinson's Gilford syndrome and mouse models of accelerated aging.Stem cells will turn into certain cells as the body needs them. Stem cells divide more than non stem cells so the tendency of accumulating damage is greater. Although they have protective mechanisms, they still age and lose function. Matthew R. Wallenfang, Renuka Nayak and Stephen DiNardo showed this in their study. According to their findings, it is possible to track male GSCs labeled with lacZ gene in Drosophila model by inducing recombination with heat shock and observe the decrease in GSC number with aging. In order to mark GSCs with lacZ gene, flip recombinase -mediated recombination is used to combine a ubiquitously active tubulin promoter followed by an FRT site with a promotorless lacZ ORF preceded by an FRT site. Heat shock is used to induce Flp recombinase marker gene expression is activated in dividing cells due to recombination. Consequently, all clone of cells derived from GSC are marked with a functional lacZ gene. By tracking the marked cells, they were able to show that GSCs do age.
Another study in a mouse model shows that stem cells do age and their aging can lead to heart failure. Findings of the study indicate that diabetes leads to premature myocyte senescence and death and together they result in the development of cardiomyopathy due to decreased muscle mass.
Recent work has suggested that, although adult tissue stem cells may the key cell type in the aging process, they may contribute via reducing their differentiation rates, rather than via becoming exhausted. Under this model, when stem cells divide but do not differentiate, they produce an excess of daughter stem cells. This phenotype will be selected for, at the cellular level, if it is caused by heritable epigenetic changes or genetic mutations, and has the potential to overwhelm homeostatic regulation of cell numbers when organismal integrity is under reduced selection in later life.
Behrens et al. have reviewed evidence that age-dependent accumulation of DNA damage in both stem cells and cells that comprise the stem cell microenvironment is responsible, at least in part, for stem cell dysfunction with aging.