Re : mitochondria and aging

Joao Pedro de Magalhaes (joao.magalhaes@fundp.ac.be)
Tue, 02 Nov 1999 12:19:04 +0100

Hi!

Some time ago, you wrote:
>IMO the order of things that need to be corrected to prevent/reverse
>aging are:
> a) Telomere Loss
> b) Mitochondrial DNA damage
> c) Protein glycosylation
> d) Accumulation of non-digestable CaRbohydrAte/Protein/lipids [CRAP]
> d) Ribosomal DNA loss through recombination repair
> e) DNA damage causing the accumulation of mutations
>
>This list will get you the major causes of what we call aging.

Perhaps. But what about "use-related damage" or mechanical senescence that might not be derived from aging itself. For example: presbyopia, molar erosion, hardening of joints, and menopause. Species that appear not to age have different physiologies that allow them to cope with these situations. Even that we do not age, these problems might still affect us. Of course this depends on how you define aging but I think that senescence and certain age-related changes might be independent of one another (as predicted from evolutionary theory).

Bye.