Replicative senescense as a consequence of stochastic processes

Abstract

The aging of multicellular organisms is a complex problem. It has been the subject of extensive research and have led to various theories. One of the remarkable features of aging is that is accompanied by the decrease in the rate of cell replication in tissue regeneration processes (replicative senescence). In the present work, we will show, if sporadic cell alterations occur in a homogenous set of stem cells, they lengthen the cell cycle and these are fixed with greater probability than non-altered stem cells. This effect is due to the inherent characteristics of the renewal dynamics and as time goes by it leads to a quiescence state for stem cells due to the recurrent fixation of such altered cell.