Loss of division potential in vitro: aging or differentiation?

We have examined the hypothesis that diploid cells grown in vitro age, and propose that only proliferative potential and not life-span is telescoped. We suggest that explanted or transplanted diploid cells are driven to divide by the process of subculturing in vitro or in vivo and, in response to this pressure, also complete their differentiation and become refractory to further mitotic stimulation. We conclude that differentiation rather than "mortality" distinguishes diploid from transformed cells and that the former may not age in vitro, but are lost because culture methods are selective for cycling cells.