DNA & Telomeres

The Hayflick limit:

The number of times a normal cell population will divide until cell division stops.The telomeres get shorter with each new cell division until they shorten to a critical length and cellular death, senescence or mutation result

Telomeres are

• Region of repetitive nucleotide  sequences (TTAGGG) at each end of the chromatid.
• Telomeres act as the cellular aging clock.
  Telomere loss is a Major Cause of Cellular Aging, Inflammation and Mutation

Somatic cells

• Make up > 99% of the cells in the adult body
• Have little or no telomerase and telomeres shorten as we get older.
  

Telomere Length Shortening:

• Conception: Telomeres start out 15,000 base pairs (bp) long.
• By Birth the embryo has divided so many times that telomere length is down to 10,000 bp.
• Over the rest of our lifetime we lose another 5,000 to 7,000 bp.
• When telomere length gets to 3-5,000 bp, the genome is no longer protected from mutations, the cell can no longer divide, becomes senescent, metabolism slows down, and the cell dies.
• Senescence-Associated Secretory Phenotype - inflammation​
  

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Telomeres are the Biological Clock of Aging

• Organs deteriorate as more and more of their cells die off or enter cellular senescence.
• Shortened telomeres impair immune function that might also increase cancer susceptibility  
• Telomere length represents biological age as opposed to chronological age
  

What shortens telomeres?​

• Aging (except in immortal animals)
• Oxidative stress
  
• Inflammation
• Lifestyle factors
• Homocysteine
• Hormone deficiencies
  

​Telomerase

• Maintains the telomere length
• Promotes genomic integrity , proliferation, and lifespan
• Protects the mitochondria from oxidative stress
• Confers resistance to apoptosis
• Important for the survival of non-mitotic, highly active cells such as neurons

To make telomeres longer…

Activate Telomerase
Endogenous enzyme

• Stabilizes telomere length
  Adds DNA repeats (TTAGGG ) onto the telomeric ends of the chromosomes
  Compensates for the erosion of telomeres when cells divide​
  

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It all fits together

• Everything we are trying to do for optimal health and quality of life has a telomere/telomerase connection
• Avoiding and controlling oxidative stress
• Nutrition
• Meditation
• Exercise
• Controlling Mental Stress, environmental toxicity, radiation exposure
• optimizing hormones
• Optimizing Nitric Oxide (NO)
• Activate Telomerase
  
  

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