From: John Clark (jonkc@worldnet.att.net)
Date: Mon May 01 2000 - 08:12:50 MDT
Joao Pedro de Magalhaes <joao.magalhaes@fundp.ac.be> Wrote:
>Mice having shorter telomeres at birth do not live less than controls.
I know, maybe that has something to do with the fact that mice as a species
tend have very long telomeres, or maybe not. I did hear a rumor that cloned mice
with unusually short telomeres lived as long as normal animals but were sterile,
I don't know if it's true. Anybody know anything?
>There is no correlation between in vitro doubling potential from cells taken
>post-partum and life span.
I don't believe a correlation (much less a cause and effect relationship) between
in vitro doubling potential and telomere length has ever been established in mice,
but it has for other animals including humans. And it's been known since the 60's
that cells from old animals put in a tissue culture divide less than that of younger
ones from the same species, and you get more in vitro cell divisions from long
lived species than from short lived ones. So when I hear that cells taken from
cloned cows have long telomeres and divide 50% more than those from normal
cows it may not prove the animals will live longer but it does make me think,
apparently it makes a lot of people think.
John K Clark jonkc@att.net
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