Increased glycolysis in ageing cultured human diploid fibroblasts.

With increasing population doubling in vitro, human diploid fibroblasts exhibited a highly significant increase in glucose uptake from the growth medium and a corresponding increase in lactate production. The switch to glycolysis occurred prior to the onset of changes in intracellular glucose and lactate concentrations or in the specific activity of the glycolytic regulatory enzyme, pyruvate kinase. It also preceded the morphological alterations held to be characteristic of cellular senescence.