The updated view concerning possibility to grow old without senescence
Many times ago Bernard Strehler prophetically said: "There is no inherent property of cells or of metazoan organization which by itself precludes their organization into perpetually functioning and self-replenishing individuals". It is clear today that the normal somatic cell lines are potentially immortal like cancer cells and germ-line cells. New findings also paradoxically highlight the capability of old mitochondria, precursor cells, tissues, and organs to rejuvenate during the vital activity at appropriate conditions (Isobe et al., 1998; Conboy et al., 2005; Adler et al., 2008; Zhang, Cuervo, 2008; etc.). As anti-ageing processes can, in principle, successfully counteract physiological deterioration why, in this case, does an organism hypothetically composed of potentially non-senescent parts age?
The normal cells do not exist in isolation in the body, and their functions are regulated by out-of-cells factors. The levels and activities of the most of these factors are highly dependent on the current response of living being on external challenges. An evolutionary biology forecasts that organisms always should be adapted in the best way for an ecological niche habitual for them.
In fact, most studies of ageing are conducted in living beings situated in rather artificial conditions. Such kind of external conditions are less adequate to the evolutionary adjusted genetic construction of an organism and leads to the appearance of senescence due to incomplete self-maintenance processes. These arguments and some other findings suggest that imitation of appropriate external signals or peculiar modification of control systems of an organism can leads to the state of full non-senescence.




