The relationship between aging and ribosomal gene activity in humans as evidenced by silver staining.

Silver selectively stains nucleolar organizer regions (NORs) distributed on the D and G chromosomes of man. The number of NORs is fairly constant for a given individual but is highly variable within populations. When 2540 metaphases from lymphocytes were examined from 127 normal subjects, a mean NOR number of 7.3 was obtained with a mode of 7. No significant difference was found in mean NOR number between females and males. However, regression lines do show a decrease in NOR number with aging for both sexes but the rate of decline is more evident in females. Also, G chromosome NORs appear more stable than those in D chromosomes. Since silver--NOR staining is indicative of ribosomal gene activity, it is proposed that lymphocyte rDNA becomes less sensitive to phytohemagglutinin stimulation during aging. It is unique that this gene repression can be visualized with conventional staining and light microscopy.