Aging of somatic cells as an example of structural change in the vitreous body with age

Abstract

Purpose: Based on the literature review and previous data, an analogy is drawn between the structure of the vitreous body and somatic cells. A comparison is made between changes in the vitreous body with age and the aging of somatic cells.

Methods:  A review of the literature and hypotheses.

Results(Hypothesis): With age, the amount of hyaluronic acid and microfibrils decreases and the volume of “empty space” increases, leading to the collapse of the vitreous body and a complete detachment. Let us imagine the vitreous body as a giant cell with a central nucleus. The cytoskeleton permeates the entire cell. The cytoskeleton provides a structural framework for the cell, serving as a framework that determines cell shape and the general organization of the cytoplasm. Importantly, the cytoskeleton is much less rigid and permanent than its name implies. We see the same thing in the microfibrils of the vitreous body.

Conclusion: With age, the density of the fibrillar structure of the vitreous body decreases. This structure is apparently, is an evolutionary intracellular formation that formed as a result of the apoptosis of the mesenchymal cells that form the primary vitreous body. An analogy is drawn between the loss of the density of fibrils of the vitreous body and the density of the cytoskeleton of asomatic cell. The loss of the cytoskeleton of a cell is a fatal process that cannot be stopped. The cytoskeleton cannot hold the nucleus in the center of the cell, which is why the nuclei of the older cells are not in the center, but are shifted to the periphery.

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