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Ageing - Senescence: the biology of ageing

Ageing - Senescence: the biology of ageing: Encyclopedia II - Ageing - Senescence: the biology of ageing

Main article: Senescence In biology, senescence is the state or process of ageing. Cellular senescence is a phenomenon where isolated cells demonstrate a limited ability to divide in culture. Organismal senescence is the ageing of organisms. Organismal ageing is generally characterized by the declining ability to respond to stress, increasing homeostatic imbalance and increased risk of disease. Because of this, death is the ultimate consequence of ageing. Some researchers are treating ageing as a "di ...

Ageing: Encyclopedia II - Ageing - Senescence: the biology of ageing

Ageing - Senescence: the biology of ageing

Main article: Senescence

In biology, senescence is the state or process of ageing. Cellular senescence is a phenomenon where isolated cells demonstrate a limited ability to divide in culture. Organismal senescence is the ageing of organisms.

Organismal ageing is generally characterized by the declining ability to respond to stress, increasing homeostatic imbalance and increased risk of disease. Because of this, death is the ultimate consequence of ageing. Some researchers are treating ageing as a "disease" in gerontology (specifically biogerontologists), although this view is controversial. In scientific circles, the controversy of treating ageing as a disease is decreasing. That is, as genes that have an effect on ageing are discovered, ageing is increasingly being regarded in a similar fashion to other genetic conditions, including genetic diseases. For example, the sirtuin family of genes have been shown to have a significant effect on the lifespan of yeast and nematodes. Similarly, the discovery of genes for Tay-Sachs disease and insulin production reveal that many human conditions are genetically based. At the cell level, it has been shown that cells can be immortalized by the introduction of an additional gene for telomerase.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Senescence: the biology of ageing", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

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