Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2009

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Telomere length declines with age in mature endothelial cells and is thought to contribute to endothelial dysfunction and atherogenesis. Bone marrow-derived circulating endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) are critical to vascular health as they contribute to both reendothelialization and neovascularization. We tested the hypothesis that EPC telomere length decreases with age in healthy adult humans.

METHODS: Peripheral blood samples were collected from 40 healthy, non-obese, sedentary men: 12 young (age 21-34 years), 12 middle-aged (43-55 years) and 16 older (57-68 years). Putative EPCs were isolated from peripheral blood mononuclear cells and telomere length was determined using genomic DNA preparation and Southern hybridization techniques.

RESULTS: EPC telomere length (base pairs) was approximately 20% (p=0.01) lower in the older (8492+523 bp) compared to the middle-aged (10,565+572 bp) and young (10,205+501 bp) men. Of note, there was no difference in EPC telomere length between the middle-aged and young men.

CONCLUSIONS: These results demonstrate that EPC telomere length declines with age in healthy, sedentary men. Interestingly, telomere length was well preserved in the middle-aged compared to young men, suggesting that EPC telomere shortening occurs after the age of 55 years.

Publication Title

Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine

Volume

47

Issue

1

First Page

47

Last Page

50

Pages

7

Type

text

Format

application/pdf

Language

en

PMCID

PMC2646422

DOI of Published Version

10.1515/CCLM.2009.016

Publisher

De Gruyter

Rights

In Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Permitted
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-NC/1.0/

Comments

This is the NIH Public Access Authors Manuscript. This article was published in Clin Chem Lab Med. 2009 ; 47(1): 47–50. doi:10.1515/CCLM.2009.016

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