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Ageing and Its Implications
Ageing and Its Implications
Ageing and Its Implications
What Is Aging?
Ageing is one of the most complex biological processes, whose definition is intrinsically related to its phenotype. Ageing is defined as the organic process of growing older and showing the effects of increasing age
Ageing begins at the moment of conception, involves the differentiation and maturation of the organisms and its cells, at some variable point in time leads to the progressive loss of functional capacity characteristics of senescence and ends in death. Ageing is a universal, intrinsic, progressive and deleterious process.
THEORIES OF AGEING
Mevdeve in an excellent review stated that there were more than 300 theories of ageing and the number kept increasing till date. Evolutionary theories Systemic theories Molecular and cellular theories
Evolutionary Theories of Aging Because of the species-specific nature of mammal aging, scientists turned to evolutionary mechanics in attempts to explain aging observations. The various evolutionary theories are: Mutation accumulation theory Disposable soma theory Antagonistic pleiotropy theory
Medawars Hypothesis
Peter Medawar (1952) proposed that age measured relative to age of first reproductive capability was a factor in the evolution process. Adverse effects (e.g. aging) that occurred well beyond puberty would have relatively little impact on the organisms ability to reproduce and propagate its design relative to the same effects occurring at a younger age. Subsequent theorists Williams, Kirkwood, and others suggested that aging might be a side effect of some design feature that created individual benefit in younger animals.
Systemic theories
Neuroendocrine theory
First proposed by Professor Vladimir Dilman and Ward Dean MD, this theory elaborates on wear and tear by focusing on the neuroendocrine system. This system is a complicated network of biochemicals that govern the release of hormones which are altered by the walnut sized gland called the hypothalamus located in the brain. The hypothalamus controls various chain-reactions to instruct other organs and glands to release their hormones etc. The hypothalamus also responds to the body hormone levels as a guide to the overall hormonal activity.
But as we grow older the hypothalamus loses it precision regulatory ability and the receptors which uptake individual hormones become less sensitive to them. Accordingly, as we age, the secretion of many hormones declines and their effectiveness (compared unit to unit) is also reduced due to the receptors down-grading.
Immunological theory
According to this theory , programmed decline in the functioning of the immune system leads to incresed vulnerability to infectious diseases thus causing aging and death
Biomarkers of ageing
Lipofuscin: It is a small granular yellw brown pigment. It is a mixture of lipid-composed of lysosomal digested that has been leftover. This particular pigment is associated with aging through wear and tear that can appear in nerve cells, heart, muscle, kidney, liver, ganglion cells and adrenals. Lipofuscin, does commonly surround the nucleus and it is also a category of lipochrome.
Lipofuscin accumulation as an aging theory focuses on maintaining a positive balance of the substance. The yellow-brown product does accumulate in various cells through aging. The increasing accumulation of lipofuscin in cells, like heart, muscle, nerve, ganglia and nerve cells demarcates aging. Lipofuscin accumulation can lead to various age-related illnesses. This includes severe health predicaments such as vision loss, macular degeneration, Batten, Alzheimers and Parkinsons disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, melanosis coli and denervative atrophy and many others.
In any cell some DNA damage may remain despite the action of repair processes. The accumulation of unrepaired DNA damage is more prevalent in certain types of cells, particularly in non-replicating or slowly replicating cells, which cannot rely on DNA repair mechanisms associated with DNA replication such as those in the brain, skeletal and cardiac muscle.
Progeroid syndrome,(neonatal): A rare congenital condition characterized by poor growth, aged facial appearance, and mental retardation. Death occurs usually by 6 years of age
Werner`s syndrome
Werner Syndrome ("Adult progeria") is a very rare, autosomal recessive disorder characterized by the appearance of premature aging Werner's syndrome more closely resembles accelerated aging than any other segmental progeria. For this reason, Werner syndrome is often referred to as a progeroid syndrome, as it partly mimics the symptoms of Progeria.
Weber-Cockayne syndrome, or Neill-Dingwall Syndrome Is a rare autosomal recessive congenital disorder characterized by growth failure, impaired development of the nervous system, abnormal sensitivity to sunlight(photosensitivity), and premature aging. Hearing loss and eye abnormalities (pigmentary retinopathy) are other common features, but problems with any or all of the internal organs are possible. It is associated with a group of disorders called leukodystrophies. The underlying disorder is a defect in a DNA repair mechanism.
Telomere theory
Telomeres are bits of junk DNA at the end of chromosomes that protect real DNA every time a cell divides. What happens is that, the very last bit of a chromosome cant be copied 100% - a little bit gets cut off. It was thought that, as cell divide, the telomeres get shorter each time, until, they are gone. At that point, the real DNA cannot be copied anymore and the cell simply ages and no longer replicates. In population level studies, researchers have shown that older people have shorter telomeres. Eventually, the cells with shorter telomeres can no longer replicate and, taken over time and lots of cells, tissue damage and the dreaded signs of aging can show up.
Most cells can replicate about 50 times before the telomeres are too short. Some believe that telomeres are the secret to longevity and there are circumstances in which the telomeres will not shorten
In women, Menopause, A functional decline in audition, olfaction, and vision, Declines in kidney, pulmonary, and immune functions, Declines in exercise performance, and multiple endocrine changes.
The incidence of a number of pathologies increases with age . These include diabetes, heart disease, cancer, arthritis, and kidney disease. The incidence of some pathologies, like sinusitis, remains relatively constant with age, while that of others, like asthma, even decline. Therefore, it is important to stress that aging is not merely a collection of diseases. With age we become more susceptible to certain diseases.
Heart diseases are the number one cause of death in people aged 85 and older, followed by cancer, cerebrovascular diseases, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases, pneumonia, and chronic lower respiratory diseases. While diseases like cancer and heart diseases are major causes of death at all ages.
Conclusion
Aging theory has been treated as an academic issue. However it is increasingly clear that our approach to age-related diseases could be dramatically affected by our understanding of the aging process and that therefore aging theory has become a public health issue. Efforts should therefore be expended to definitively resolve the theory issues and develop research funding policy based on the results.
Thank you
References
997 - 2001, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2010 by Pedro de Magalhaes, Integrative Genomics of Ageing Group. Free radical research dec 2006 Williams, G.C. (1957). "Pleiotropy, natural selection and the evolution of senescence" (PDF). Evolution 11 (4): 398 411. doi:10.2307/2406060. JSTOR 2406060.
Journal of Bioscience Hypotheses 2 (2): 59 64. doi:10.1016/j.bihy.2008.12.02 Robbins pathologic basis of diseases 7th, edition .