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Identification of cultivation-independent markers of human endothelial cell senescence in vitro

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Abstract

Human aging processes are regulated by many divergent pathways and on many levels. Thus, to understand such a complex system and define conserved mechanisms of aging, the use of cell culture-based models is a widespread practice. An often stated advantage of in vitro aging of primary cells is the high reproducibility compared to the much more intricate aging of organisms. However, the aging process of cultured cells is, like aging of organisms, not only defined by genetic but also by environmental factors, making it difficult to distinguish between cell culture condition-induced artefacts and true aspects of aging. Therefore we investigated aging of HUVEC (human umbilical vascular endothelial cells), a well-known and widely used model system for in vitro aging, with different, already well-established cell culture protocols. Culturing conditions had indeed a strong impact on cell proliferation, the replicative lifespan and apoptosis rates. However, despite these significant differences, we found also various robust markers that define senescent HUVEC: morphological changes, increased senescence-associated β-galactosidase staining, cell cycle arrest in the G1 phase, lowered mitochondrial membrane potential and increased oxidatively modified proteins were displayed independent of cell culture protocols and could therefore be considered also as markers for in vivo aging.

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Acknowledgements

Support has been received from the EU Integrated Project MiMage CT 2004-512020 and FSP S93 of the Austrian Science Funds. We thank H.P. Viertler and M. Neuhaus for excellent technical assistance and T. Nyström and M. Hernebring for the helpful methodical guidance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mol. Cell Biology, Institute for Biomedical Aging Research of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Rennweg 10, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria

    Hermann Unterluggauer, Eveline Hütter & Pidder Jansen-Dürr

  2. Institute for Applied Microbiology, Department of Biotechnology, University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Muthgasse 18, 1190, Vienna, Austria

    Regina Voglauer & Johannes Grillari

  3. Kinematic Cell Research Group, Institute for Cell Biology and Neurosciences, JW Goethe University, Max-von-Laue-Str. 9, 60438, Frankfurt/Main, Germany

    Monika Vöth, Jürgen Bereiter-Hahn & Marina Jendrach

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  1. Hermann Unterluggauer
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  2. Eveline Hütter
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  3. Regina Voglauer
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  4. Johannes Grillari
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  7. Pidder Jansen-Dürr
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  8. Marina Jendrach
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Correspondence to Marina Jendrach.

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Unterluggauer, H., Hütter, E., Voglauer, R. et al. Identification of cultivation-independent markers of human endothelial cell senescence in vitro. Biogerontology 8, 383–397 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10522-007-9082-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10522-007-9082-x

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