GROWTH-PROPERTIES AND GROWTH-FACTOR RESPONSIVENESS IN SKIN FIBROBLASTS FROM CENTENARIANS

Human fibroblast cultures, which have a finite replicative lifespan in vitro, are the most widely used model for the study of senescence at the cellular level. An inverse relationship between replicative capabi lity and donor age has been reported in human fibroblast strains. We s tudied the growth capacity of fibroblast primary cultures derived from people whose lifespan was as closer as possible to the expected maxim um human lifespan, i.e. people over one hundred. Our data suggest that outgrowth of fibroblasts from biopsies, growth kinetics at different population doubling levels, capability to respond to a classical mitog enic stimulus (such as 20% serum) and a variety of growth factors, wer e remarkably similar in fibroblasts from centenarians and young contro ls. On the whole, our data challenge the tenet of a simple and strict relationship between in vivo aging and in vitro proliferative capabili ty of human fibroblasts, at least at the individual level. (C) 1998 Ac ademic Press.