The non-existent aging program: how does it work?
Summary Aging and lifespan determination have been viewed, in the most well-accepted theories, as nonprogrammatic, and are thought to result from the evolutionary selection for early fitness at the expense of late survival. Here, recent data implicating potentially programmatic aspects of aging and lifespan determination are discussed, and analogies between programmed cell death and programmed organismal death are offered. It is hoped that the recognition of at least the possibility of a programmatic aspect, or aspects, to the determination of longevity and the process of aging will help to optimize our chances to identify appropriate therapeutic targets both for longevity enhancement and disease prevention.
Bredesen
Dale E
DE
Buck Institute for Age Research, University of California, San Francisco, 8001 Redwood Blvd, Novato, CA 94949, USA. dbredesen@buckinstitute.org
D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D016923:Cell Death / Q000502:physiology*; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000502:physiology; D004734:Energy Metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007107:Immune System / Q000502:physiology; D008954:Models, Biological; D018384:Oxidative Stress / Q000502:physiology*; D012641:Selection, Genetic