A team of researchers, led by the UPF, characterize rare, damaged cells (senescent cells) that block the functions of their neighbour healthy cells and identify ways to neutralize them and improve tissue regeneration

Senescent cells, which emerge after tissue injury, create an aged-like inflamed microenvironment that is negative for stem cell function and tissue repair. The finding provides a basis for mitigating the loss of muscle regenerative capacity in elderly people and for improving muscle repair in young healthy people. Researchers at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), ICREA, CIBERNED, CNIC and Altos Labs , among other national and international collaborators, have characterized how damaged cells (senescent cells) that inevitably arise after injury negatively impact tissue regeneration, and how this mechanism operates actively in old age, but surprisingly also in young age. This negative action can be overcome genetically and pharmacologically, hence restoring stem cell regenerative functions. Tissue regeneration depends on a population of stem cells and its neighbouring cells, a process whose efficacy declines with aging. The reasons of this decline remain largely unknown. Dr. Pura Muñoz-Cánoves , ICREA professor at the Department of Medicine and Life Sciences ( MELIS ) at UPF in Barcelona, CNIC in Madrid, and CIBERNED, and now in Altos Labs San Diego Institute of Science, and Dr. Eusebio Perdiguero (also from MELIS and now in Altos Labs), have found in experiments with mice that senescent cells are new regulatory components of the muscle tissue regenerating niche that blunt muscle regeneration at all stages of life.