Abstract

MARTINEZ SALAZAR, Mauricio. Techniques for detecting in vitro apoptosis and cell senescence and their importance in health biotechnology. Rev. colomb. biotecnol [online]. 2009, vol.11, n.2, pp.152-166. ISSN 0123-3475.

This article reviews the main techniques for detecting apoptosis and cell senescence levels for application in animal and human cell cultures, given the importance of establishing the most appropriate methodology for implementing them in biological and biomedical research which uses these kinds of cell for diagnosis, research and in therapeutic alternatives. There is a need for implementing standardised techniques for assessing and monitoring cell cultures as this guarantees culture quality if they can be applied in the clinical field. Apoptosis and cell senescence appear to be good biological parameters for such evaluation. Apoptosis is considered to be a form of organised and programmed cell death, unlike necrosis; this process is energy dependent, implying the activation of proteolytic enzymes called caspases and an intracellular molecular cascade until a cell completely disappears. Cell senescence is defined as being the irreversible loss of a cell’s proliferative capacity whilst still metabolically active. This analysis contrasts techniques for detecting such phenomenon and emphasises the possibility of implementing multi-assays for a more sensitive and rigorous determination of in vitro apoptosis and cell senescence.

Keywords : apoptosis; cell senescence; in vitro apoptosis detection; in vitro cell senescence detection.

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