Are telomeres shorter in different parts of the body depending on usage of that part? For example, will someone who reads books and develops Alzheimers have shorter telomeres in their brain since they used it more?

Question

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

Answer 1

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.

Answer 2

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

Answer 3

Can you ELI5 you’re question?