Cipriano Catia, Tesei Silvia, Malavolta Marco, Giacconi Robertina, Muti Elisa, Costarelli Laura, Piacenza Francesco, Pierpaoli Sara, Galeazzi Roberta, Blasco Maria, Vera Elsa, Canela Andres, Lattanzio Fabrizia, Mocchegiani Eugenio
Immunology Center, Research Department Istituto Nazionale Riposo e Cura per Anziani, Ancona, Italy.
J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2009 Jul;64(7):745-51. doi: 10.1093/gerona/glp048. Epub 2009 Apr 9.
Critical shortening of telomeres, likely associated with a considerable increase of senescent cells, can be observed in PBMC of individuals aged 80 and older. We investigated the relationship between critical telomere shortening and zinc status in healthy or hypertensive participants with or without cardiovascular disease in old and very old participants. Telomere shortening and accumulation of cells with short telomeres (percent of cells with short telomeres) in advancing age was evident in patients and healthy controls, but exacerbated in those patients aged 80 and older. Moreover, in very old patients, the accumulation of % CST may impair intracellular zinc homeostasis and metallothioneins expression, which itself is linked to an increased number of inflammatory agents, thereby suggesting the existence of a possible causal relationship between % CST and zinc homeostasis. The determination of % CST could be a more reliable means than the simple measure of telomere length as fundamental parameter in ageing to determine whether individuals are still able to respond to stress.
在80岁及以上人群的外周血单核细胞（PBMC）中可观察到端粒的严重缩短，这可能与衰老细胞的显著增加有关。我们在老年和高龄的健康或高血压参与者（无论有无心血管疾病）中研究了严重端粒缩短与锌状态之间的关系。在患者和健康对照中，随着年龄增长，端粒缩短和短端粒细胞的积累（短端粒细胞的百分比）是明显的，但在80岁及以上的患者中更为严重。此外，在高龄患者中，%CST的积累可能会损害细胞内锌稳态和金属硫蛋白表达，而这本身与炎症因子数量增加有关，从而表明%CST与锌稳态之间可能存在因果关系。确定%CST可能是一种比简单测量端粒长度更可靠的方法，作为衰老的基本参数来确定个体是否仍能应对压力。
