Do any studies support the idea that since telomeres degrade with each copy/certain confounding variables, that those that “use it” actually “lose it” after a certain point?
In: Biology
question is difficult to answer because each tissue in the body is different and has a different regenerative capacity
we do actually possess a telomerase (a reverse transcriptase – rna dependent dna polymerase) but it is mostly expressed in body stem cells, like basal epidermal cells or bone marrow stem cells
feel free to correct me, but i dont think its a matter of cumulative shortening of telomeres that you would be able to observe, but rather, passage of times inevitable addition of mutations/insults that kill off viable stem cells and reduce the regenerative capacity
Can you ELI5 you’re question?
Telomeres cease to be relevant when you’re talking about the brain, because neurons don’t replicate. Since they never replicate they never divide their DNA, so telomeres make no difference.