Higher DNA repair activity is related with longer replicative life span in mammalian embryonic fibroblast cells.

Since the detailed comparison of DNA repair activities among mammalian embryonic fibroblast cells with different replicative life spans has not been investigated, we tested DNA repair activities in embryonic fibroblast cells derived from mammals including human, dog, rat, and mouse. The cell viability after treatment of four DNA damage agents appeared to be decreased in the order of human embryonic fibroblasts (HEFs) > dog embryonic fibroblasts (DEFs) > rat embryonic fibroblasts (REFs) > mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) although statistical significance was lacking. The amounts of strand breaks and AP (apurinic/apyrimidinic) sites also appear to be decreased in the order of HEFs > DEFs > REFs ≥ MEFs after treatment of DNA damage agents. The DNA repair activities and rates including base excision repair (BER), nucleotide excision repair (NER) and double-strand break repair (DSBR) including non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) decreased again in the order of HEFs > DEFs > REFs ≥ MEFs. BER and NHEJ activities in 3% O(2) also decreased in the order of HEFs > DEFs > REFs > MEFs. This order in DNA repair activity appears to be coincident with that of replicative life span of fibroblasts and that of life span of mammals. These results indicate that higher DNA repair activity is related with longer replicative life span in embryonic fibroblast cells.