Oliver's mTOR Atlas Evidence Platform
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Rapamycin decelerates cellular senescence

Demidenko ZN, Zubova SG, Bukreeva EI, Pospelov VA, Pospelova TV, Blagosklonny MV · 2009 · Cell Cycle · Atlas ID DEM2009

What this study shows

Blagosklonny's key experiment behind his 'hyperfunction' theory of aging. When a cell's division is blocked but mTOR keeps driving growth, the cell tips into permanent senescence. Rapamycin uncouples the two - keeping arrested cells reversible instead of senescent. Direct evidence that mTOR actively drives the senescent state, not just passively accompanies it.

Abstract

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When the cell cycle is arrested but cellular growth is not, then cells senesce, permanently losing proliferative potential. Here we demonstrated that the duration of cell cycle arrest determines a progressive loss of proliferative capacity. In human and rodent cell lines, rapamycin (an inhibitor of mTOR) dramatically decelerated loss of proliferative potential caused by ectopic p21, p16 and sodium butyrate-induced p21.

Read the full abstract on PubMed →

At a glance

Evidence type M Molecular — cells, biochemistry, structure Marked M because it is molecular or in-vitro work (model: Human + rodent cell lines) rather than a whole-organism health-outcome study. That is often exactly where causal biology gets established -- the code says which system the finding was shown in, and nothing about how good the work is.
Study type5 - Mechanistic / In Vitro
Model systemHuman + rodent cell lines
JournalCell Cycle
Year2009
Peer reviewedYes
Record last updated2026-08-22
SourceDOI 10.4161/cc.8.12.8606 · PMID 19471117

Extracted findings

InterventionRapamycin (mTOR inhibition)
TargetmTOR
ModelHuman + rodent cell lines
EffectRapamycin decelerates cellular senescence (geroconversion) during cell-cycle arrest

In the Atlas

Related topics

RapamycinmTORCellular senescencemTORC1

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Cite this paper

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Demidenko, Z. N., Zubova, S. G., Bukreeva, E. I., Pospelov, V. A., Pospelova, T. V., & Blagosklonny, M. V. (2009). Rapamycin decelerates cellular senescence. Cell Cycle. https://doi.org/10.4161/cc.8.12.8606

@article{DEM2009,
  author       = {Demidenko, Z. N. and Zubova, S. G. and Bukreeva, E. I. and Pospelov, V. A. and Pospelova, T. V. and Blagosklonny, M. V.},
  title        = {{Rapamycin decelerates cellular senescence}},
  journal      = {Cell Cycle},
  year         = {2009},
  doi          = {10.4161/cc.8.12.8606},
  note         = {PMID: 19471117},
}

Cite this Atlas record

The record is the Atlas's own work — the evidence label, the extracted findings and the links. It is cited as part of the dataset, not as the paper. 

Barton, O. (2026). Oliver's mTOR Atlas (record DEM2009) [Data set]. https://mtor-atlas.org/study/DEM2009/ · Dataset DOI 10.5281/zenodo.22059963

@misc{atlas_DEM2009,
  author       = {Barton, Oliver},
  title        = {{Oliver's mTOR Atlas}, record DEM2009},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  year         = {2026},
  url          = {https://mtor-atlas.org/study/DEM2009/},
  doi          = {10.5281/zenodo.22059963}
}