Telomeros: The clocks of life

The human species has been able to increase its life expectancy year after year, however our biology places a limit on us.And the cumulus of damage in cells product of aging prevents our body from existing indefinitely, our life time is controlled by a kind of hourglasses...How long does we have left to live ? Can we be able to cheat the clock ? Come and discover more about telomeros.

What are telomeros?

All human beings have 46 chromosomes which are arranged in 23 pairs ; In general, it can be said that the shape of the chromosomes is similar to the letter "X", the chromosome is composed of long and short arms, other important parts are the centromere (central part that joins the arms) and the telomero (extreme part of the arms).

These telomeres are sequences of repeated DNA that are located at the ends of the chromosomes as " Capuchon ”, preventing them from deteriorating or merging with other chromosomes, which would cause serious genetic problems .Telomeres play a fundamental role during the cell division , the Shortening of telomeres during this process is inevitable and limits the number of times a normal cell can replicate , approximately 50 throughout life.The minimum size that a functional telomere can have is known as the limit of Hayflick and indicates that when the cell reaches smaller sizes it will begin its death process .Also being the telomere of chromosome 3 the shortest of the whole game, it is thought that it could be the trigger of cell death.

In other words we could say that very short telomeres allow a smaller amount of divisions causing a reduced longevity and on the contrary longer telomeres involve greater longevity .When we are born there are no significant differences between the length of the telomeres of men and women, however, as aging occurs, the telomeres of women end up being longer than in men, this phenomenon is still unexplained but could be the reason why Women tend to live longer years than men.

How to repair telomeres?

The secret to a longer life lies in the length of the telomeres, then being able to control the size of the telomeres and keep them in a good size could give us more years of life, since it turns out that we are not so far from controlling the telomeres thanks to the discovery of the enzyme 'telomerase' whose function is to lengthen and maintain telomeric regions.

Telomeros: The clocks of life

Experiments in mice have demonstrated the ability to increase the life of these animals even in a 24% after a treatment in which the production of the enzyme telomerase was induced.However, the danger is latent since if the telomerase concentrations are very high, it could ac tivar the tumor cells and cause cancer since they favor the immortality of malignant cells.Then the success of this therapy focuses on being able to extend life by maintaining the telomeres without producing cancer.

Likewise, Telomerase is normally active in fetal cells and after birth it is gradually deactivated in all cells except in normal stem cells and in some cells of the immune system.On the other hand, sperm and ovules already they have long telomeres and do not have telomerase activity.

Future applications

The immediate application is to test the effectiveness of drugs telomerase inhibitors as a possible antitumor therapy, alleviate the diseases associated with aging by re-introducing telomerase into cells with short telomeres, tissue production and differentiation in vitro from adult stem cells, which also need telomerase to divide indefinitely.

Telomeros: The clocks of life

The most promising application focuses on delaying aging, a common cause that triggers the appearance of diseases as the resistance to insulin or cardiovascular diseases, the incidence of which increases with age.Then, if we treated the aging of the cells, we could prevent the appearance of these diseases .that the study of the telomere and its telomerase will bring us many surprises in the not too distant future.

If you have been interested in this article, you may want to know more about why we need DNA from a man and a woman.

Comments

Better to study shortly or long before for an exam? You'll be surprised!

Is it better to study months before an exam or in the previous days? A study reveals the best method! Better to study shortly or long before for an exam? You will be surprised! Are you one of those who study the day before the exam even though they have always advised you otherwise? Now, science says that you might be right to do so because studying when stressed or under pressure favors learning . This is what scientists at the University of Bristol have said, discover that the hormones that are produced when stressed are causing changes in the cells, allowing memories to be stored more effectively in the hippocampus, the part of the brain related to memory. According to the Professor Hans Reul, who directs the research, stress hormones, such as cortisol and adrenaline, change genes within neurons and increase their learning capacity . This The phenomenon is called "epigenetic modification", an alteration of the genome of cells to reprogram DNA in the brain and ...

Are you codependent in love? These signals could indicate that yes

Codependence is a psychological condition that makes you forget about yourself and your emotions to focus on the needs of another person almost completely.The codependent knows no limits and is capable of Forgive everything, just for staying close to who motivates this state.Does it sound familiar to you? We tell you these signs that could indicate a possible codependence. Signals that you are codependent You give more than you receive When we talk about couples, we build the concept of two people who voluntarily decide to work in tandem to keep love afloat .Both ensure that each one feels in harmony with the connection they have built.The romantic companions will do their part to continue strengthening the emotional bond between the two, attending to the emotional needs alike. Instead a codependent person will settle for a unilateral relationship, in which only one person is willing to do whatever it takes, to give whatever he can to neglect himself, so that he can r...

EXISTS! The plant that leads to suicide

We have an ambivalent relationship with nature, which goes from the vision of plants and animals with which we can maintain a harmonious relationship, and that we also need to guarantee a balanced existence, and on the other hand the threatening jungle, full of bugs and willing to push back civilization and cover it if neglected. The truth is in an intermediate place between these two poles, and just as there are dangerous animals for humans, there is also flora that can be harmful and even, as a curiosity, a plant that leads to suicide. The plant that leads to suicide In 1963 Ernie Ryder , an officer of the Service of Parks of Queensland, he was walking in an area of this tropical region of northeastern Australia, when he brushed with his face the leaf of a plant covered with a fluff and known locally as gympie gympie ; what followed next was surprisingly painful: “For two or three days the pain was almost unbearable, I could not sleep or work, and continued to be quite ...

And you, also "procrastins"?

And you? Procrastines too? If you don't, we are sure that you know someone who does it continuously and that, surely, makes you despair.But what does this disturbing word really mean? Let's give an example: you have been dating a person for a long time, you make plans for the future, you have many illusions and projects, however, your partner never seems to decide.He is unable to formalize your relationship because something like that, not only overwhelms him, but even He is lazy. "Are we not well like that?" I often reproach you. Let's give another example: you may have the classic friend who never seems to finish his studies.It is easy to be an "eternal" university student who faces the responsibilities and anxieties of the working world. And what about people who spend all their time in front of a computer screen letting out "real life" ? Sometimes, it is much easier to let ourselves go, evading responsibilities, than to put means t...

How long is love?

How long does love last? The eternal question of those who are in love.Does love last for a lifetime? Does it last 2, 4, 7 years? How long does love last for us? According to anthropologist Helen Fisher love comes to last for some 4 years .Just that first period of infatuation in which the sexual attraction is very important and in which at the end, touching the 4 years, there is offspring., then, in the second phase which is the carino , in which together we raise and educate, and in which that initial sensation fades away.Finally, comes the desire for separation.And, According to this anthropologist, this process is natural, since our organism cannot bear for a long time the ferris wheel of sensations that we feel, due to the chemistry that is generated when we fall in love : the high levels of dopamine, testosterone and norepinephrine that our brain secretes.That is why they have an expiration date: between 1 and 4 years! Researchers at the University of Pisa al...

What is acid rain?

Many times we have heard the term " acid rain " and generally relate it to the weather and possible contamination, but do you really know what it is? In Science Daily Online we explain it below. What is acid rain? The so-called acid rain is a atmospheric phenomenon that originates when acidic compounds are incorporated into the small droplets of water that make up the clouds.It is one of the main consequences related to air pollution that we all breathe the days. This is a cycle that starts at the moment that industries, factory smoke or car engines emit sulfur oxides in the gaseous state that is transported through the winds to hundreds of kilometers.By burning different kinds of fuels considerable amounts of chemicals are released, which not only contain visible particles of gray color, but also have a wide variety of gases not visible, but very harmful for the environment . Acidity values In the troposphere , one of the layers that make up the at...

The sun shield that some scientists want to build

Faced with the imminent threat of solar flares that could seriously affect life on Earth, a group of scientists has proposed a novel form of protection: a gigantic sun shield .. With a sun shield we could protect the Earth from the king star, according to scientists Human activity in the 21st century increasingly depends on the infrastructure located in the orbit Low Terrestrial (LEO), that is, the many telecommunications satellites currently in space, the International Space Station and the GPS satellite fleet. For this reason, the solar flares have begun to be considered a serious danger to human life, because if this infrastructure is destroyed we would be left without the tools that make our comfortable existence on the planet possible. To treat this threat a team of scientists from Harv University ard recently published a study that proposes a bold solution: put a giant magnetic shield in orbit. The study, which was the work of Manasavi Lingam and Abraham Loeb of...

The mystery of prehistoric giant mushrooms

Imagine a primitive scenario , halfway between fantasy and mystery.It is a time where Earth has only two continents: Euramerica , to the north, and Gondwana , to the south.Imagine now that you are walking on a soil almost devoid of vegetation, there are hardly any plants, and your steps explode in the thicket of a rocky stage, where they stand... The authentic giants of the Earth: the prototaxites.These giant mushrooms were like strange mastiffs that could reach almost 8 meters.The higher the height, the greater the possibility of escaping their spores, and hence their sovereignty In these scenarios of Silurico and Devonico , almost 420 million years ago... But, what were they? Trees, bushes? ...The prototaxites were fungi.If you have felt a chill or have been stung by curiosity, do not hesitate to know more about these creatures worthy of appearing in the "Lost World" of Jules Verne. The era in which the Prototaxites, giant fungi, dominated the Earth Scientist...

Newton questioned

We are all questioned at any given time, and there are no absolute truths...In this case it is up to Newton.Isaac Newton is one of our favorite characters, we already dedicate another article «The strangest inventions of Isaac Newton» and it is This time we present you with a no less surprising article.A highly reputable Hindu scientist, Madhavan Nair, states that the theory of gravity was already in the scriptures that preceded Hinduism.Curious, right? Madhavan Nair Madhavan Nair is a Hindu researcher , former president of the Space Research Organization of India (ISRO) He was one of the promoters of one of the summit events in the history of the Science of India: In 2008 his country managed to reach the moon and place in it a vehicle painted with the colors of the Hindu flag. Now Nair surprises again with some amazing statements.Segun says, in the script ituras Vedic that preceded Hinduism there are references to different events about phenomena such as the gravitati...

What do you know about tardigrades? The creatures that would survive in space

If you've been lucky enough to see the sequel to Carl Sagan's famous documentary series, Cosmos , you may have seen an excellent animation of the tardigrades, these microscopic beings also known as “bears of water.” What do you know about tardigrades? Creatures that would survive in space The tardigrados were discovered in the 18th century, and their name literally means "slow-moving." The first to describe them was the German Johann August Ephraim Goezee , in 1773; He was also the first to baptize them as “water bears.” Adults measure 0.5 mm, so they can be observed with the naked eye and find several in a drop of water (young people measure 0.05 mm); there are more than 1,000 species and they are classified as parartropods , that is, similar to arthropods, although there is nothing further from the figure of a crab, or a lobster. Its appearance is that of a being from another world, and it could be, for one of its most extraordinary characteristics and whi...

Science Daily Online

Search This Blog