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Apoptosis, or Phenoptosis, Theory of Aging, or Aging as a Programm

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Apoptosis, or Phenoptosis, Theory of Aging, or Aging as a Programm

Author:

v. P. Skulachev

History:

This theory developed by v. P. Skulachev in 1990s is expanding A. Weismann ideas.

Example:

An increased incidence of apoptosis has been reported for several tissues during aging, even in the absence of overt aging-related disease. Detailed analysis of sarcopenia in rodents indicates an apoptotic-like mechanism. During aging in Drosophila, apoptotic-like events are observed in both muscle and fat tissue.

Description of the Theory:

The concept of phenoptosis signifies the phenomenon of programmed death of an organism.
It is believed that the main mechanism of phenoptosis is apoptosis — genetically motivated process of programmed cell death. Apoptosis should be distinguished from necrosis. While necrosis is a violent cell death due to injury, burn, poisoning etc., apoptosis is a highly regulated and controlled process. Unlike necrosis, under apoptosis a cell is carefully sectionalized and its fragments can be used by other cells as a building material. According to v. P. Skulachev, a trigger mechanism of apoptosis is mitoptosis — a sort of mitochondrial death program.
There are a lot of reasons why cells trigger apoptosis. If a cell finds oneself accidentally in an «alien» tissue or organ, it rapidly «commits suicide». Also, the cell infected with viruses receives a biochemical signal to make self-annihilation. Thereby the «disinfection» of an organism occurs.

According to v. P. Skulachev, aging comes when dying cells becomes more numerous in an organism than appearing cells, and when moribund functional cells replace with connective tissue. v. P. Skulachev believes that aging is a disease which may and must be treated as we can attempt to cancel apoptosis. Since 2005, v. P. Skulachev leads a project with a goal of creating geroprotectors in the form of antioxidants specifically addressed to mitochondria (Skulachev ions).

Additions and Сriticism:

It should be noticed that evolutionary mechanisms maintaining the program of phenoptosis may be revealed. They are the kin selection (in this case, individuals age and die for the benefit of related members of a group) or the group selection (the death for the benefit of not related individuals). In theory, aging may stabilize the population, increase genetic diversity, and hasten the time of adaptation. Apoptosis in unicellular organisms (like yeasts) and the existence of organisms with «acute» programmed death (like salmon, octopus, and male marsupial mouse) are the arguments in favour of this theory.

Publications:

  • Higami, Yoshikazu, and Isao Shimokawa. «Apoptosis in the aging process." Cell and tissue research 301.1 (2000): 125–132.
  • Lu, Bin, Hong-Duo Chen, and Hong-Guang Hong-Guang. «The relationship between apoptosis and aging." Advances in Bioscience and Biotechnology 3.06 (2012): 705.
  • Monti, Daniela, et al. «Apoptosis-programmed cell death: a role in the aging process?» The American journal of clinical nutrition 55.6 (1992): 1208S-1214S.
  • Pollack, Michael, et al. «The role of apoptosis in the normal aging brain, skeletal muscle, and heart." Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 959.1 (2002): 93–107.
  • Warner, Huber R. «Aging and regulation of apoptosis." Current topics in cellular regulation 35 (1997): 107–121.