Which Is the Most Significant Cause of Aging?
It becomes clearer and clearer that aging is a result of a significant number of causes and it would seem that counteracting one or several of them should not make a significant difference. Taken at face value, this suggests, for example, that free radicals and reactive oxygen species do not play a...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2015-12-01
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| Series: | Antioxidants |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/2076-3921/4/4/793 |
| _version_ | 1797719285518303232 |
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| author | Stefan I. Liochev |
| author_facet | Stefan I. Liochev |
| author_sort | Stefan I. Liochev |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | It becomes clearer and clearer that aging is a result of a significant number of causes and it would seem that counteracting one or several of them should not make a significant difference. Taken at face value, this suggests, for example, that free radicals and reactive oxygen species do not play a significant role in aging and that the lifespan of organisms cannot be significantly extended. In this review, I point to the fact that the causes of aging synergize with each other and discuss the implications involved. One implication is that when two or more synergizing causes increase over time, the result of their action increases dramatically; I discuss a simple model demonstrating this. It is reasonable to conclude that this might explain the acceleration of aging and mortality with age. In this regard, the analysis of results and mortality patterns described in studies involving yeasts and Drosophila provides support for this view. Since the causes of aging are synergizing, it is also concluded that none of them is the major one but many including free radicals, etc. play significant roles. It follows that health/lifespan might be significantly extended if we eliminate or even attenuate the increase of a few or even just one of the causes of aging. While the synergism between the causes of aging is the main topic of this review, several related matters are briefly discussed as well. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T09:03:38Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-66e6c6af86024233a18c06e38f2ad89e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-3921 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T09:03:38Z |
| publishDate | 2015-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Antioxidants |
| spelling | doaj.art-66e6c6af86024233a18c06e38f2ad89e2023-09-02T15:29:49ZengMDPI AGAntioxidants2076-39212015-12-014479381010.3390/antiox4040793antiox4040793Which Is the Most Significant Cause of Aging?Stefan I. Liochev08 Foxlair Court, Durham, NC 27712, USAIt becomes clearer and clearer that aging is a result of a significant number of causes and it would seem that counteracting one or several of them should not make a significant difference. Taken at face value, this suggests, for example, that free radicals and reactive oxygen species do not play a significant role in aging and that the lifespan of organisms cannot be significantly extended. In this review, I point to the fact that the causes of aging synergize with each other and discuss the implications involved. One implication is that when two or more synergizing causes increase over time, the result of their action increases dramatically; I discuss a simple model demonstrating this. It is reasonable to conclude that this might explain the acceleration of aging and mortality with age. In this regard, the analysis of results and mortality patterns described in studies involving yeasts and Drosophila provides support for this view. Since the causes of aging are synergizing, it is also concluded that none of them is the major one but many including free radicals, etc. play significant roles. It follows that health/lifespan might be significantly extended if we eliminate or even attenuate the increase of a few or even just one of the causes of aging. While the synergism between the causes of aging is the main topic of this review, several related matters are briefly discussed as well.http://www.mdpi.com/2076-3921/4/4/793agingreactive oxygen speciessynergytheoryoxidative stressfree radicalslifespan |
| spellingShingle | Stefan I. Liochev Which Is the Most Significant Cause of Aging? Antioxidants aging reactive oxygen species synergy theory oxidative stress free radicals lifespan |
| title | Which Is the Most Significant Cause of Aging? |
| title_full | Which Is the Most Significant Cause of Aging? |
| title_fullStr | Which Is the Most Significant Cause of Aging? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Which Is the Most Significant Cause of Aging? |
| title_short | Which Is the Most Significant Cause of Aging? |
| title_sort | which is the most significant cause of aging |
| topic | aging reactive oxygen species synergy theory oxidative stress free radicals lifespan |
| url | http://www.mdpi.com/2076-3921/4/4/793 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT stefaniliochev whichisthemostsignificantcauseofaging |