title: Molecular bases of biologic aging.
abstract: The authors outline the progression of thought on the mechanism of the aging process, giving emphasis to environmental factors that influence genetic events. Discussion is limited to those theories that explain fundamental causes of aging and have a firm thermodynamic basis. The authors propose that the cumulative result of continual oxidative stress and other thermodynamic processes (such as aminoacid racemization and nonenzymatic glycosylation), resulting in altered function and increasing the net entropy of living systems, governs the rate of the aging process.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Investigative Dermatology, Rockefeller University, New York, New York.
authors.forename: A K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Balin
authors.forename: R G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Allen
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D000975:Antioxidants; D004734:Energy Metabolism; D005609:Free Radicals; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006031:Glycosylation; D006801:Humans; D011489:Protein Denaturation
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants; D005609:Free Radicals