Cell impairment in aging and development : [proceedings of a Symposium on Impairment of Cellular Functions During Aging and Development In Vivo and In Vitro held at the Castle of Hrubá Skála in Czechoslovakia, May 5-9, 1974

In 1969, eight papers dealing with aging of cultured cells were presented at a small symposium that comprised part of a meeting of the European Tissue Culture Society. These papers, subsequently published by Plenum Press under the title Aging in Cell and Tissue Culture, reflected the interests of a relatively small group of researchers in Europe and the United States involved in the study of aging at the cellular level. Attention to this subject has now grown enormously. The social and medical sciences are being asked to meet the demands of communities whose members live longer and wish to spend their later years as physically and mentally fit as possible. To this end, an understanding of exactly what happens during the aging process is essential, and basic research is fundamental to such an understanding. This need is now widely realized, and the forty six papers presented at the present symposium of the study group for Aging of the European Cell Biology Organization represent only a part of the diverse research being done in dozens of laboratories all over the world. In a rapidly developing area of research such as experimental gerontology, new models, findings, ideas and directions emerge in great numbers; and, although it becomes more difficult to find a common language among workers in different fields, it is also more rewarding when joint efforts are successful. The present symposium brought together people interested in various aspects of cellular and molecular aging in vivo and in vitro, to confront their work and exchange ideas and experiences, to find "meeting points" and define gaps in knowledge. In 1969, the most commonly used model was that of Hayflick's diploid cell system. These cells, with their finite lifespan in vitro, were a new star on the firmament of gerontological research, a field clouded by almost too many theories, hypotheses and speculations. Over the intervening years, attention to this model system has grown rapidly, even as the general study of cellular aging, to which this model contributes, has grown. Apart from reports on work in this almost "classical" diploid cell system, the symposium presents studies using different biological systems with results that have been rewarding as information is obtained on patterns of change that are common to more than one experimental system. Indeed, in recent years much more has been learned about the fate of all different types of intermitotic and postmitotic cells in situ. The symposium has also presented contributions dealing, not directly with aging but with early ontogeny; such information on early developmental changes should certainly shed light on some of the mechanisms involved in aging. We are cognizant of the fact that environmental influences resulting from the complexities of modern civilization may have results that only occur much later, and profoundly affect the lifespan of the organism. There remain, of course, many unanswered questions. Whether there is "physiological" as opposed to "pathological" aging; whether "old" cultures living in unchanged, although not exhausted, medium, are degenerating, not aging; what is involved when "old" fragment cultures regenerate after excision by filling the wound with "young" cells; why some tumor cells in vivo as well as in vitro die while others live; all are questions deserving of our attention. Front Matter....Pages i-xv Cell Ageing: Chairman’s Introduction....Pages 1-5 The Effect of Hydrocortisone on DNA Synthesis and Cell Division during Aging in Vitro ....Pages 7-22 Proliferative and Functional Impairment of Pancreatic Epithelial Cells Maintained in Vitro ....Pages 23-39 The Use of Arrested Populations of Human Diploid Fibroblasts for the Study of Senescence in Vitro ....Pages 41-49 Relationship between Cell Kinetic Changes and Metabolic Events during Cell Senescence in Vitro ....Pages 51-65 Do Hyperplastoid Cell Lines “Differentiate Themselves to Death”?....Pages 67-90 Time-Lapse Cinemicrophotographic Studies of Cell Division Patterns of Human Diploid Fibroblasts (WI-38) during their in Vitro Lifespan....Pages 91-105 Characteristics of Proliferative Cells from Young, Old, and Transformed WI 38 Cultures....Pages 107-122 Alterations in Chromatin Functions during Aging in Vitro ....Pages 123-136 Growth-Promoting Alpha-Globulin and Ageing....Pages 137-146 Cell Surface Alterations and “in Vitro” Aging of Animal Cells....Pages 147-153 Changes in Lysosomes during Ageing of Parenchymal and Non-Parenchymal Liver Cells....Pages 155-169 The Effect of Age on Mitochondrial Ultrastructure and Enzymes....Pages 171-183 Creatinephosphokinase in Human Diploid Cell Lines....Pages 185-192 Cytochemical and Cytogenetic Findings in Five Human Leukocyte Long-Term Cultures (LAHL) of Different Origin....Pages 193-205 Enzymatic Differences between Short-Lived and Long-Lived Drosophila Strains....Pages 207-213 Cell Ageing in the Intestinal Tract....Pages 215-217 Studies on the Proliferative Capacity of Mouse Spleen Cells in Serial Transplantation....Pages 219-233 On the Ageing of Intermitotic Cells — Investigations on Enterocytes and Hepatocytes....Pages 235-245 Fat Cells in Ontogenesis....Pages 247-256 Ageing and the Loss of Auditory Neuroepithelium in the Guinea Pig....Pages 257-264 The Phagolysosomal System of the Retinal Pigment Epithelium in Ageing Rats....Pages 265-279 The Role of Retinol in, and the Action of Anti-Inflammatory Drugs on, Hereditary Retinal Degeneration....Pages 281-295 Effect of Age on Kidney Hyperplasia in the Rat after Unilateral Nephrectomy....Pages 297-305 Effect of Age on Kidney Hyperplasia in the Rat during Cold Acclimation....Pages 307-314 Age-Related Changes of Cells Involved in Immune Responses....Pages 315-322 Observations of Age and Environmental Influences on the Thymus Kept in Tissue Culture....Pages 323-327 Fidelity in the Collagen Synthesized and Modified by Aging Fibroblasts in Culture....Pages 329-338 Biosynthesis of Collagen during the Life Cycle of Human Diploid Cell Lines....Pages 339-350 Ageing Processes in Collagens from Different Tissues of Rats....Pages 351-357 The Effect of Nutritional Regimes Upon Collagen Concentration and Survival of Rats....Pages 359-369 Bone Aging....Pages 371-374 Relations between Development of the Capillary Wall and Myoarchitecture of the Rat Heart....Pages 375-388 Functional Capacity of Neonatal Mammalian Myocardial Cells during Aging in Tissue Culture....Pages 389-420 Ultrastructural Changes in Senile Muscle....Pages 421-429 Denervation, Reinnervation and Regeneration of Senile Muscle....Pages 431-440 Morphometrical and Mathematical Analysis of the Ageing Changes of the Muscle-Connective-Tissue-Relation in Smooth Muscles....Pages 441-449 Some Histochemical Age Changes of the Smooth Muscle Cells in the Veinous Wall....Pages 451-458 Effect of Lysolecithin on the Transport of Plasma Cholesterol to Tissues: Developmental Aspects....Pages 459-467 Viral Infection and Interferon in Cell Cultures Aged in Vitro ....Pages 469-479 Ultrastructure of in Vitro Aged Chick Embryo Cell Cultures in Relation to Viral Infection....Pages 481-495 Heritable Cell Cycle Disturbances and Late Recovery in X-Irradiated Murine Lymphoma L5178Y-S Cell Populations in Vitro ....Pages 497-509 Studies on the Sensitivity of Anticancer Agents of Normal Human Cells in Culture....Pages 511-519 Ribonucleases in mouse Ascitic Tumor Cells during Ageing in Vivo and in Vitro....Pages 521-527 Proliferation and Morphology of Ascitic Cells as a Function of Age In Cell Culture....Pages 529-542 Back Matter....Pages 543-557