ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with a brief review of essential concepts in general cell biology that pertain to the aging of cells. It describes the cause of aging and how that manifests in cells. The chapter explores a possible aging mechanism underlying cellular aging that leads to a decline in function and determines the life span of the entire organism. It looks at how the most basic function of a cell, energy metabolism, can produce by-products having the potential to cause damage. The chapter discusses how development of time-dependent pathologies, such as cancer, reflects a loss in molecular fidelity within a highly conserved pathway selected to protect the tissue and impart a reproductive advantage. It also explores the relationship between cell senescence and telomeres, the repetitive, noncoding base-pair sequences at the ends of each chromosome. The chapter explains how the loss of telomeres occurring during each round of the cell cycle can trigger biochemical pathways that lead to permanent growth arrest.
