aging

aging, progressive physiological changes in an organism that lead to senescence, or a decline of biological functions and of the organism’s ability to adapt to metabolic stress.

Aging takes place in a cell, an organ, or the total organism with the passage of time. It is a process that goes on over the entire adult life span of any living thing. Gerontology, the study of the aging process, is devoted to the understanding and control of all factors contributing to the finitude of individual life. It is not concerned exclusively with debility, which looms so large in human experience, but deals with a much wider range of phenomena. Every species has a life history in which the individual life span has an appropriate relationship to the reproductive life span and to the mechanism of reproduction and the course of development. How these relationships evolved is as germane to gerontology as it is to evolutionary biology. It is also important to distinguish between the purely physicochemical processes of aging and the accidental organismic processes of disease and injury that lead to death.

Gerontology, therefore, can be defined as the science of the finitude of life as expressed in the three aspects of longevity, aging, and death, examined in both evolutionary and individual (ontogenetic) perspective. Longevity is the span of life of an organism. Aging is the sequential or progressive change in an organism that leads to an increased risk of debility, disease, and death. Senescence consists of these manifestations of the aging process.

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The viability (survival ability) of a population is characterized in two actuarial functions: the survivorship curve and the age-specific death rate, or Gompertz function. The relation of such factors as aging characteristics, constitutional vigour, physical factors, diet, and exposure to disease-causing organisms to the actuarial functions is complex. There is, nevertheless, no substitute for them as measures of the aging process and of the effect of environmental or genetic modifiers.

The age-specific mortality rate is the most informative actuarial function for investigations of the aging process. It was first pointed out by an English actuary, Benjamin Gompertz, in 1825 that the mortality rate increases in geometric progression—i.e., by a constant ratio in successive equal age intervals. Hence, a straight line, known as the Gompertz function, results when death rates are plotted on a logarithmic (ratio) scale. The prevalence of many diseases and disabilities rises in the same geometrical manner as does the mortality rate, important exceptions being some infectious diseases and diseases arising from disturbances of the immunological system. Although the life tables of most species are remarkably similar in form, even closely related species can differ markedly in the relative incidence of the major causes of death.

For humans in industrialized countries, life expectancy has increased significantly. Indeed, at the beginning of the 20th century, life expectancy in those countries was between 30 and 45 years. At the century’s close, life expectancy averaged about 67 years, thanks in large part to improvements in health care, nutrition, and standards of living. In the early 21st century, demographic projections suggested that life expectancy for men and women who maintained the healthiest lifestyle patterns would continue to increase. In the first decade of the 21st century in the United States, centenarians—those who live to age 100 or older—were the fastest-growing segment of the population.

Biological theories of aging

Aging has many facets. Hence, there are a number of theories, each of which may explain one or more aspects of aging. There is, however, no single theory that explains all of the phenomena of aging.

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Genetic theories

One theory of aging assumes that the life span of a cell or organism is genetically determined—that the genes of an animal contain a “program” that determines its life span, just as eye colour is determined genetically. This theory finds support in the fact that people with parents who have lived long lives are likely to live long themselves. Also, identical twins have life spans more similar in length than do non-twin siblings.

The genetic theory of aging centres on telomeres, which are repeated segments of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) occurring at the ends of chromosomes. The number of repeats in a telomere determines the maximum life span of a cell, since each time a cell divides, multiple repeats are lost. Once telomeres have been reduced to a certain size, the cell reaches a crisis point and is prevented from dividing further. As a consequence, the cell dies.

Research has shown that telomeres are vulnerable to genetic factors that alter an organism’s rate of aging. In humans, variations in a gene known as TERC (telomerase RNA [ribonucleic acid] component), which encodes an RNA segment of an enzyme known as telomerase, have been associated with reduced telomere length and an increased rate of biological aging. Telomerase normally functions to prevent the overshortening of telomeres, but in the presence of TERC mutations the enzyme’s activity is altered. TERC also appears to influence the telomere length that individuals possess from the time of birth. Persons who carry TERC variations are believed to be several years older biologically compared with noncarriers of the same chronological age. This accelerated rate of biological aging is likely also influenced by exposure to environmental factors, such as smoking and obesity, which increase a carrier’s susceptibility to the onset of age-related diseases relatively early in adult life.

Mutations of genes that affect telomere length lend support to another genetic theory of aging, which assumes that cell death is the result of “errors” introduced in the formation of key proteins, such as enzymes. Slight differences induced in the transmission of information from DNA molecules of the chromosomes through RNA molecules (the “messenger” substance) to the proper assembly of the large and complex enzyme molecules could result in a molecule of the enzyme that would not “work” properly. This is precisely what happens in the instance of mutations in the TERC gene. Such mutations disrupt the normal function of the telomerase enzyme.

As cells grow and divide, a small proportion of them undergo mutation. This change in the genetic code is then reproduced when the cells again divide. The “somatic mutation” theory of aging assumes that aging is due to the gradual accumulation of mutated cells that do not perform normally.