Dipartimento di Scienze Clinico-Chirurgiche Diagnostiche e Pediatriche, University of Pavia Fondazione Istituto di Cura a Carattere Scientifico (IRCCS) Policlinico San Matteo, 27100 Pavia, Italy.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2013 Mar 12;110(11):4374-9. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1217505110. Epub 2013 Feb 25.
Neurons in mammals do not undergo replicative aging, and, in absence of pathologic conditions, their lifespan is limited only by the maximum lifespan of the organism. Whether neuronal lifespan is determined by the strain-specific lifetime or can be extended beyond this limit is unknown. Here, we transplanted embryonic mouse cerebellar precursors into the developing brain of the longer-living Wistar rats. The donor cells integrated into the rat cerebellum developing into mature neurons while retaining mouse-specific morphometric traits. In their new environment, the grafted mouse neurons did not die at or before the maximum lifespan of their strain of origin but survived as long as 36 mo, doubling the average lifespan of the donor mice. Thus, the lifespan of neurons is not limited by the maximum lifespan of the donor organism, but continues when transplanted in a longer-living host.
哺乳动物的神经元不会经历复制性衰老，并且，在没有病理条件的情况下，它们的寿命仅受限于生物体的最长寿命。神经元的寿命是由特定菌株的寿命决定的，还是可以延长到这个限制之外，目前还不清楚。在这里，我们将胚胎期的小鼠小脑前体细胞移植到寿命更长的 Wistar 大鼠的发育大脑中。供体细胞整合到大鼠小脑发育为成熟神经元，同时保留小鼠特有的形态特征。在新的环境中，移植的小鼠神经元不会在其来源菌株的最大寿命时或之前死亡，而是可以存活长达 36 个月，是供体小鼠平均寿命的两倍。因此，神经元的寿命不受供体生物的最大寿命限制，而是在移植到寿命更长的宿主中时继续延长。
