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

The evolutionary reason why we love the taste of sugar

Have you ever wondered why, it seems, everyone (or the vast majority of people) loves sweets and/or the taste of sugar in general? There are scientists and scholars who seem to have found a reason and it makes a lot of sense. Do you want to meet her? We tell you! The taste of sugar: Is the reason why we crave so much evolutionary? We can say that it is thanks to our ancestors that we like the taste of sugar.And why? It turns out that millions and millions of years ago, the apes survived in their environment with a diet based on sugar-rich fruit.These animals preferred the more mature fruit because it had a higher sugar content than the greener fruit and , therefore, it provided them with more energy. From there, this longing for sweetness was born. It is clear that prehistoric human beings also had very different concerns than we have today.At that time, their ultimate goal was to survive in the toughest situations, so they used the sugar flavor as an indication that that p...

5 natural remedies against depression

Depression.It is a mood disorder that can be permanent or temporary, and is characterized by feelings of sadness, dejection, unhappiness and guilt, robbing us of the possibility of enjoying life. Sure that many times feeling like this can be due to very specific situations: loss of someone you love, lack of work, some chronic illness, and the symptoms affect especially the affective sphere. The real problem is when this condition becomes permanent, producing in those who suffer a terrible suffering and great anxiety, which can manifest in an absolute lack of interest in everyday activities. It is a disease that afflicts a large number of people around of the world; drugs can be successful in extreme depressive cases, and more or less 80% usually improve between 4 to 6 weeks, but 50% of patients stop treatment in half for fear of side effects of medications, or the addiction to them. In view of this, researchers are looking back at other types of treatments, natural remedi...

Do you want to have lucid dreams? A study explains how to get it

Who has not imagined to control what it sounds ? Taking the course and taking the dream where you want it is what, apparently, people who have lucid dreams can do.A recent study explains that there are guidelines and techniques that can be followed to get to have that kind of dreams , do you accompany us to find out how to have lucid dreams? The study that explains how to get lucid dreams The lucid dream is one in which the sleeper becomes aware that he is playing while he is still in that process and has the ability to control that experience .It can happen at the moment we go from wakefulness to sleep, and we know that we are ringing for the bodily sensations we have, or during the dream itself.In the latter case, for some reason we "wake up" within the dream and have the option to follow inside or really wake up. Psychologists believe that the health of some of their patients could improve if they could take the reins of your dreams .For years there ...

The Vadoma tribe | Of African origin and with ostrich feet

If you have reached this article, it is because you have surely heard about the Vadoma tribe, an African people famous for having ostrich feet.Like an ostrich? Yes, as you read it, the ostrich feet, like two big claws that come out, instead of the five fingers we are used to. Didn't you know this was possible? Do not worry, we were also surprised at some point, so at Science Daily Online we sat down to find out more about this Vadoma to bring you all the information you need to know about this particular African tribe. Don't forget to find out of the peculiar history of the Vadoma tribe. Content Index The Vadoma: the ostrich feet village Ectrodactyly is an alteration where the three central toes disappear to give way to two prominent claws. To begin, we have to locate ourselves geographically. We are in the amazing African continent, where the savanna opens in all directions , the heat reigns and the sun is at its zenith showing us all the curiosities of Africa tha...

The 12 people who have stepped on the moon | There will be more!

Everyone, at one time or another, has seen the images of Neil Armstrong stepping on the lunar floor on July 20, 1969.But did you know that there are more people who have stepped on the moon? Not that there are many, but in total there are 12 the people who have soiled their boots with moon dust .In the following article we want to explain who they were and why there has been more expeditions to the moon. What happened in the 60s we all know. From 1967 to 1972, the objective of NASA focused on the only natural satellite on Earth In addition to being able to plant a flag, as a non-American, on the moon, there were 6 more missions whose purposes went beyond that very patriotic act.Let's see which were those 12 humans who carried them out. Content Index The purposes of the lunar missions The great purposes of the missions to the Moon that all American astronauts had in mind were four.We present: 1.Establish the necessary technology to satisfy national interests in space...

The Smilodon, the fantastic "saber teeth"

The Smilodon. Few prehistoric creatures are so beautiful and impressive at the same time, like this unique feline better known as "saber teeth".Experts say more than belonging to the family of big cats like the tiger or the lion, the Smilodon is more like a red lynx. It was simply beautiful, it lived along the American continent at the end of the Pliocene and became extinct 10,000 years ago.reason? Due to the climatic change of our planet.As the temperature rose, the large dams, the large animals that used to feed: mammoths, horses, prehistoric bison... The smallest animals ran too much and the Smilodon was not a good runner.In addition, he had to face predators more skilled than them, as was the case with the giant wolves.That is, the change of the derived ecosystems by general warming , I have just defeated these wonderful animals, which, without a doubt, we would have loved to know. The Smilodon (saber teeth), a fierce predator First we must clarify one aspec...

10 Fun Facts About Nipples

We all have a pair of nipples, there are even some who have one of more, but how much do we really know about these? 1.The Areola-gasmo is something. Some people experience orgasm by nipple stimulation alone.It's weird, but it happens. 2.Child or girl? Everyone has nipples due to how fetuses develop in the womb: Nipples appear before the sexual organs . 3.And who are you from? The nipples can be of a great variety of shapes, sizes and colors Dark, pink, brown, large, small...Everything is normal! The same goes for the areolas (the colored skin around the nipple). They can be very light or very dark.They can also be as small as currencies of dime or as wide as dinner plates Everything is normal! 4.Montgomery glands The small bumps in your areolas are called Montgomery glands.They are called that by William Montgomery, the first man who described them in an article scientist in 1837.Ah, and they are totally normal and not something to worry about. ...

How to face that special friend goodbye: our pets

Facing the death of our dog, our cat or any other animal that is an intimate and daily part of our life is not easy.Sometimes, the emptiness caused by not having our side to that special friend, can be harder than we think, in fact, sometimes it can be as intense as managing a person's loss. And how to do it? What is the best way of gradually overcoming the emptiness that this being has left us that never asked us for anything more than our sweetheart ? Let's talk about it today. 1.How to live the duel To overcome that loss we have to live almost the same process that we would go through the Death of a relative. Every duel is a process of farewell, and as such you have to know how to properly manage every moment. There will be a first moment of denial How to accept that we are not going to see our dog, our cat? Later, anger, anger will come.Because we know, it is not fair that they also leave our side, it is even possible that your pet was still very...

Can our body contain DNA from other humans?

Is that possible, that we can have other humans' DNA in our own body? No, we are not telling you the script of a science fiction movie, we talk about a much more common reality than we thought. Join us to discover it. Can our body contain DNA of other humans? Peter Kramer and his colleague Paola Bressan, from the University of Padua, in Italy, are investigating a phenomenon they have called “microchimerism.” And, apparently, the character of “phenomenon "It would not be such, since the incidence in humans is quite high, beyond what we can imagine. Now, what is that of microchimerism ? Let's start by defining the term chimera; in Greek mythology, it was an imaginary monster that had a lion's head, goat's belly and dragon's tail, which also vomited flames.In other words, a mixture of several different beings in the same body.If we apply the word microchimerism to the human condition, we would have the presence in our organism of a small number of cells ...

What music ATTRACTS great sharks? You guess?

The influence of music on animals has been reported for many years and has even been tried to get some benefit, such as the use of classical music to stimulate the production of dairy cows .It is an old topic that the music tames the beasts, although this is not always true, as we will see next. Shark music, a supercurious and dangerous experience During the filming of a program for the series "Shark Week", Discovery Channel, within the framework of a documentary called "The Shark's Bride", an almost spontaneous experiment was conducted that showed the strange relationship of the white shark with a subgenre of heavy metal, death metal . Death metal is one of the most extreme trends of heavy metal, associated with violence, political extremism, satanism and other aspects politically incorrect, as the names of some groups reflect is Americans: Morbid Angel , Deicide , Exhumed , Cannibal Corpse , Suffocation or Inmolation . In the video you can se...

Science Daily Online

Search This Blog