Effect of aging on behaviour of mesenchymal stem cells

Figure 2 Autophagy influences senescence in mesenchymal stem cells. The self-renewal potential of young mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) is influenced by their autophagy capacity to regulate the good levels of oncogenic factors like p53 and inflammatory signals like senescence-associated secretory phenotype and IGF-1, which produces overexpression of reactive oxygen species in the mitochondria, accumulation of mutations at DNA levels and acidification in the lisosomal apparatus together with an increase of LMNA in the nucleus. When autophagy is downregulated by the pathologic process, young MSCs become old MSCs in an accelerated way, losing their self-renewal capacity. MSC: Mesenchymal stem cell; ROS: Reactive oxygen species.