Aging
Some
organs in the body are made up of small cell
groups. The small islands of Langerhans cells in the pancreas are one
of those.
These small islands of cells produce insulin. Without Insulin
production the
individual will get diabetes.
The
reason why these cells usually are better
producers of the hormone in older age than the interstitial cells of
the testes
which are of similar size, may be that the hormone insulin stimulates
growth of
clones (E. Tjøtta, Arch Ges Virusforsch, 25: 363 –
364, 1968). Therefore,
Insulin probably prevents specific clone inhibition of the Langerhans
islands
and an accumulation of this effect.
Beyond
that, aging seems to affect small organs with limited
cell numbers first and irreversibly. The
postulated specific clone inhibitors may probably be the cause.
The
reason why skin color of black peoples doesn’t
become gray in old age is that all melanocytes of the skin are
connected by
offshoots and therefore these cells are all knit together as in a great
organ.
Therefore, the assumed natural specific clone inhibitor has no effect
on skin
melanocytes.
The
distance between each hair, however, is
greater than the melanocytes in the hair roots are able to overcome.
The number
of melanocytes in each hair root is much lower than the total number of
skin
melanocytes and is, in contrast to skin melanocytes, probably irreversibly
inhibited after many years . Therefore, the hair color in old dark-skinned
peoples
may become gray in old age in contrast to the skin color that stays.
Ovaries
contain follicles where eggs develop.
Follicles decreases in number from about 266000 at birth to the
critical number
of 25000 at mid-life. Then involution occurs unexpectedly fast. It
is assumed that both the relatively few cells in the follicles of the
ovaries
and the greater cell mosaic of the cells of women contribute to the
involution.
In addition, the reduction of the number of follicles itself will
contribute to
the accelerated involution.
Sperm
is present in greater numbers than follicle
and egg cells and will therefore probably have a greater ability to
resist
specific clone inhibitors than follicles.
The
interstitial cell groups of the testicles are
large during fetal life, small between birth and puberty and grow again
at
sexual maturation. Since sexual maturity also makes malignant tumors of
brown
moles possible, this may be signs among others of decrease of the
activity of
the assumed natural clone inhibitors after puberty.
Declining
clone inhibition will also serve the
development of the fetus that depends on normal growth of clones during
the
formation of organs.
Hormone
production in the small groups of testicular interstitial cells will
probably
diminish in older age because of a possible accumulated and
irreversible effect
of the assumed natural and specific clone inhibitor. Such assumed
accumulated
and irreversible effect is also what probably affects gray hairs in old
peoples.
Science
consists not only of observations, but
also of deductions that can be tested by new experiments. This is also
the case
here.