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Digital Image Analysis of Cells Stained with the Senescence-Associated β-Galactosidase Assay

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Biological Aging

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 1048))

Abstract

Cellular senescence plays important roles in the aging process of complex organisms, in response to stress and in tumor suppression. Several markers can be used to identify senescent cells, of which the most widely used is the senescence-associated β-galactosidase (SABG) activity. Here we describe a procedure for digital image analysis of cells stained by the SABG staining technique at pH 6 or at pH 4. This analysis is highly reproducible and sensitive to subtle differences in staining intensities resulting from diverse cellular senescence pathways in culture.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported in part by The Legacy Heritage Biomedical Program of the Israel Science Foundation (grant No. 725/09—S.S.) and by a kind donation from the Slava Smolakowski Fund to Rambam Medical Center.

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Shlush, L.I., Selig, S. (2013). Digital Image Analysis of Cells Stained with the Senescence-Associated β-Galactosidase Assay. In: Tollefsbol, T. (eds) Biological Aging. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1048. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-62703-556-9_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-62703-556-9_2

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  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, Totowa, NJ

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-62703-555-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-62703-556-9

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