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Studies of centenarians as a model of successful ageing may help identify various environmental, social, psychological, and genetic factors supporting longevity. The scientific aims of the programme were to assess health status and environmental determinants of ageing of Polish centenarians, and to collect biological material for studying selected aspects of longevity, including genetic factors. The social aim of the project was to bring public attention to ageing of the population, as well as living conditions of elderly individuals. The intention of the authors of this paper is to present aims, scope, methods and preliminary results of the Polish Centenarians Programme, as well as to provide potential new partners for studying various aspects of longevity and ageing with the information about available materials collected during the programme. In this study, 346 subjects aged 100+ were visited, biological material was collected from 285 subjects, and 153 lymphocyte cell lines were immortalized.

Recently, centenarians are involved in many research programs as they are believed to represent so-called successful aging. The aim of the study was to characterize morphological alterations observed in neutrophils from their peripheral blood. The study involved 40 centenarians (group B--34 females and 6 males) as well as 40 young healthy subjects aged 20-30 years (group K--35 females and 5 males). The study is a part of the Polish Centanarians Program coordinated by the International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology in Warsaw. In this study, the morphometry of neutrophils from blood smear was performed in all studied subjects. Additionally, in centenarians, the relationship between observed alteration and serum level of vitamin B12 and folic acid was analyzed. Both the mean size of granulocytes and the mean value of neutrophil lobe counts were higher in group B vs group K (15.5 +/- 0.6 mm and 13.9 +/- 0.7 mm; p<0.0001 and 4.01 +/- 0.7 and 3.2 +/- 0.2; p<0.0001). Chromatin chips and toxic granules in cytoplasm were observed more often in centenarians as well (39/40 vs 20/40--p<0.0001 and 40/40 vs. 23/40--p<0.0001; respectively). In centenarians, there was no relationship between the presence of morphological alterations in granulocytes and the serum level of vitamin B12 and folic acid. In conclusion, morphological alterations were very common in studied centenarians. Detailed analysis of biochemical parameters and clinical status is necessary to answer the question about their pathomechanism.

We undertook this study to characterize the haematological indices in centenarian subjects who should be an excellent group to study the mechanisms of physiological aging. This study is a part of the Polish Centenarians Program co-ordinated by the International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology in Warsaw. We examined 89 subjects aged 100 to 111 (14 males and 75 females). Mean values of all haematological parameters were within the normal range in females. In males, haemoglobin level (Hb), red blood cell count (RBC) and hematocrit (Hct) were slightly lower than WHO references (12.7 +/- 1.3 g/dl, 4.10 +/- 0.48 M/ml and 38.4 +/- 3.8%, respectively). However, anaemia was more frequent in females than in males (57.1% vs 29.1%, p < 0.05). In females with anaemia there was a tendency to decrease its severity with age. In the oldest group (aged 105-111 years) Hb and Hct had a tendency for lower values vs the youngest group (100-101 years) (10.1 +/- 1.8 g/dl vs 11.6 +/- 0.1 g/dl, p = 0.067 and 30.9 +/- 5.0% vs 35.0 +/- 0.3%, p = 0.067). Additionally, in the youngest group there were three females with severe anaemia (Hb < 9.0 g/dl) whereas in the oldest group all females with anaemia had Hb above 11.0 g/dl. In males the analysis was not undertaken because of small group of studied subjects. In conclusion, anaemia seems to be a relatively common problem in studied centenarians. Severe anaemia seems to be an eliminating factor in centenarian women.