Identification of altered expression of ADP/ATP translocase during cellular senescence in vitro

In this study, we have used the mRNA differential display technique to investigate the changes in gene expression that occur in the process of cellular aging. A number of cDNAs whose corresponding mRNAs are either increasingly or decreasingly expressed in senescent cells were thereby isolated. Through DNA sequencing, one of these differentially displayed mRNAs was identified as mitochondrial ADP/ATP translocase. The altered expression of ADP/ATP translocase in different stages of senescent fibroblasts was further confirmed by Northern blots and semiquantitative RT-PCR. Our results demonstrate that expression of ADP/ATP translocase is progressively decreased during the process of in vitro cellular senescence. Further analyses with MTT assays indicate that the decreased expression of ADP/ATP translocase in senescent cells is in parallel with the decline of mitochondrial functions, suggesting that altered expression of this important mitochondrial enzyme might play an active role in the process of cellular senescence.