Kirkwood T B, Cremer T
Hum Genet. 1982;60(2):101-21. doi: 10.1007/BF00569695.
Cytogerontology, the science of cellular ageing, originated in 1881 with the prediction by August Weismann that the somatic cells of higher animals have limited division potential. Weismann's prediction was derived by considering the role of natural selection in regulating the duration of an organism's life. For various reasons, Weismann's ideas on ageing fell into neglect following his death in 1914, and cytogerontology has only reappeared as a major research area following the demonstration by Hayflick and Moorhead in the early 1960s that diploid human fibroblasts are restricted to a finite number of divisions in vitro. In this review we give a detailed account of Weismann's theory, and we reveal that his ideas were both more extensive in their scope and more pertinent to current research than is generally recognised. We also appraise the progress which has been made over the past hundred years in investigating the causes of ageing, with particular emphasis being given to (i) the evolution of ageing, and (ii) ageing at the cellular level. We critically assess the current state of knowledge in these areas and recommend a series of points as primary targets for future research.
细胞老年学，即细胞衰老的科学，起源于1881年，当时奥古斯特·魏斯曼预测高等动物的体细胞具有有限的分裂潜能。魏斯曼的预测是通过考虑自然选择在调节生物体寿命中的作用而得出的。由于各种原因，魏斯曼关于衰老的观点在他1914年去世后被忽视了，直到20世纪60年代初海弗利克和穆尔黑德证明二倍体人类成纤维细胞在体外的分裂次数有限，细胞老年学才再次成为一个主要的研究领域。在这篇综述中，我们详细阐述了魏斯曼的理论，并揭示他的观点在范围上比一般认为的更广泛，与当前研究的相关性也更高。我们还评估了过去一百年来在研究衰老原因方面取得的进展，特别强调了（i）衰老的进化，以及（ii）细胞水平的衰老。我们批判性地评估了这些领域的当前知识状态，并推荐了一系列要点作为未来研究的主要目标。
