Peptide Self-Regulation of Living Systems (Facts and Hypotheses) - Shataeva L. K. 2003

Peptide Regulation of Aging

The phenomenon of Aging and death in living organisms is biologically predetermined and serves to drive the general evolutionary development of living nature. In accordance with the law of natural Selection, evolution not only expands the metabolic (trophic) connections of living systems with their environment but also increases the informational content of these connections. This informational support, in turn, enhances the operational reliability of each living Organism and its adaptation to the environment at a given stage of evolution (Shmalhausen, 1961). Thus, Variability, fluctuation, and the accumulation of new biological traits allow living systems to adapt to environmental changes; however, the transmission of these changes to subsequent generations is strictly limited by the conservatism of the genetic apparatus. The aging of an organism is driven by a decline in the informational reliability of the living Cells' genetic apparatus resulting from the accumulation of "errors" during METABOLISM/36.html">DNA Replication and the Transcription of Genetic information. This, in turn, leads to errors in the synthesis and Processing of Polypeptides and Proteins (Brillouin, 1966; Sjakste, Budylin, 1992). The strategy of biological evolution dictates that an organism in which the accumulation of molecular defects in the genetic apparatus has reached a critical level is removed from the population. In other words, alongside the stages of conception, growth, and development, aging is an endogenously conditioned—that is, natural—terminal phase. It begins with a period of stabilization of vital Functions, the fading of reproductive potential, and a gradual slowdown of metabolism, concluding with a period of declining activity and the death of individual Cell systems and Tissues. The failure of certain bodily systems typically increases the burden on and accelerates the wear-and-tear of others, such that "a cascade of dependent failures can occur within the organism, mimicking a pattern of self-destruction" (Gavrilov, Gavrilova, 1986, p. 83). Apparently, a similar process of endogenous DNA defect accumulation in the Chromatin of differentiated cells underlies apoptosis, i.e., programmed cell death (Kroemer et al., 1995).

Studies on the species-specific lifespan of organisms constitute a distinct branch of biology, The history of which is well-documented in the literature (Koly, 1979; Dilman, 1981; Anisimov, Solovyov, 1999). The results of gerontological research indicate that human lifespan depends on numerous factors that, from a sociological perspective, can be categorized into individual and social ones. According to experts in this field, the duration of an active life period in older adults is determined primarily by living conditions (Nutrition, medical care, working conditions, and lifestyle factors). From a medical standpoint, the factors governing active life and The rate of human aging are divided into physiological and pathological. Physiological (natural) aging is a prerequisite for active longevity and is linked to a certain extent to genetic predispositions. Pathological (accelerated) aging occurs under the Influence of External destructive factors: infections, adverse working conditions, environmental hazards, and an unhealthy lifestyle (Frolkis, 1990). Experts estimate that aging in modern society occurs predominantly via this accelerated mechanism, which accounts for the high prevalence of diseases among the elderly. Factors of accelerated aging also include burdened heredity—such as Diabetes Mellitus, hypercholesterolemia, and Vascular Diseases—as well as age-related changes in constitutional Immunity (Korkushko et al., 2002).

All of these changes are driven by impairments in cellular and tissue regulation of Biosynthesis and lead to a reduction in natural resistance barriers. Furthermore, with advancing age, the immunoreactivity of the lymphoid resistance system declines. As a result, older and elderly individuals are more susceptible to infectious diseases and experience significantly more severe courses of illness. In the context of population aging, the paramount task of gerontology and geriatrics is not merely to extend chronological lifespan, but rather to maintain and prolong the active period of human life, shift age-related changes toward the normal aging process, and strive to reach the maximum biological limits of human longevity (Dilman, 1987).