Cell Aging of Mouse Gastrointestinal Tract Observed by Light and Electron Microscopic Radioautography

The term “cell aging” initially means how the cells change due to their aging. There are two meanings, i.e. how a cell changes when it is isolated from original animals such as in vitro cells in cell culture, otherwise how all the cells of an animal change in vivo due to the aging of the individual animal. We have been studying the latter changes from the viewpoint of the cell nutrients, the precursors for the macromolecular synthesis such as deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), ribonucleic acid (RNA), proteins, glucides and lipids, which are incorporated and synthesized into various cells of individual animals. Therefore, this article deals with only the cell aging of animal cells in vivo, how the metabolism, i.e. incorporations and syntheses of respective nutrient precursors in various kinds of cells change due to the aging of individual experimental animals such as mice by means of microscopic radioautography to localize the RI-labeled precursors. The incorporations and syntheses of various precursors for macromolecules such as DNA, RNA, proteins, glucides, lipids and others in various kinds of cells of various organs in the gastrointestinal tract such as the mouth, esophagus, stomach and intestines are reviewed referring many original papers already published from our laboratory during these 60 years since the late 20th century.