Other theories of aging focus attention on factors that can influence the expression of a genetically determined “program.” These theories all attempt to explain aging in terms of cellular and molecular changes. Actually, age changes are much more marked in the overall performance of an individual than in cellular processes that can be measured. The age decrement in the ability to perform muscular work is much greater than any changes that can be detected in the enzyme activities of the muscles that perform the work. It is possible that aging in an individual is actually due to a breakdown in the control mechanisms that are required in a complex performance. Aging could also be the result of an accumulation in cells of damaging reactive molecules produced as byproducts of day-to-day cellular activities, such as cellular respiration. Other nongenetic theories consider aging as a complex psychosociological process.
The “wear-and-tear” theory assumes that animals and cells, like machines, simply wear out. Animals, however, unlike machines, have some ability to repair themselves, so that this theory does not fit the facts of a biological system. A corollary to the wear-and-tear theory is the presumption that waste products accumulate within cells and interfere with function. The accumulation of highly insoluble particles, known as “age pigments,” has been observed in muscle cells in the heart and nerve cells of humans and other animals.
With increasing age, tendons, skin, and even blood vessels lose elasticity. This is due to the formation of cross-links between or within the molecules of collagen (a fibrous protein) that give elasticity to these tissues. The “cross-linking” theory of aging assumes that similar cross-links form in other biologically important molecules, such as enzymes. These cross-links could alter the structure and shape of the enzyme molecules so that they are unable to carry out their functions in the cell.
Another theory of aging assumes that immune reactions, normally directed against disease-producing organisms as well as foreign proteins or tissue, begin to attack cells of the individual’s own body. In other words, the system that produces antibodies loses its ability to distinguish between “self” and foreign proteins. This “autoimmune” theory of aging is based on clinical rather than on experimental evidence.
“Glycation” theory suggests that glucose acts as a mediator of aging. Glycation, in which simple sugars (e.g., glucose) bind to molecules such as proteins and lipids, has a profound cumulative effect during life. Such effects may be similar to the elevated glucose levels and shorter life spans observed in diabetic humans.
Oxidative damage theory
Reactions that take place within cells can result in the oxidation of proteins and other cellular molecules. Oxidation entails the loss of electrons from these molecules, causing them to become unstable and highly reactive and leading to their eventual reaction with and damage of cell components such as membranes. Such reactive molecules are known as free radicals—any atom or molecule that has a single unpaired electron in an outer shell.
Oxidative damage (oxidative stress) accumulates with age, and this has given rise to the free radical theory of aging, which is concerned in particular with molecules known as reactive oxygen species (ROS). This theory was first proposed in the 1950s by American gerontologist Denham Harman and was supported in part by evidence that antioxidant proteins, which neutralize free radicals, are more abundant in aging cells, indicating a response to oxidative stress.
The initial free radical theory of aging was later extended to include ROS derived from cellular organelles known as mitochondria, which are the primary sites of energy production in most eukaryotic organisms (eukaryotic cells are cells with clearly defined nuclei). The mitochondrial theory of aging was based on the idea that there exists within mitochondria a vicious oxidation cycle, in which the mutation of mitochondrial DNA impairs the function of proteins in the organelle’s respiration machinery, thereby enhancing the production of DNA-damaging oxygen radicals. This in turn results in the accumulation of mutations in mitochondrial DNA and a bioenergetic impairment, characterized by the failure of mitochondria to produce sufficient energy for cells to carry out their daily activities, which leads to tissue dysfunction and degeneration.
A similar mitochondrial theory of aging proposes a mechanism in which electrons leaking from the electron transport chain (ETC), the central component of the organelle’s respiration machinery, produce ROS and then damage ETC proteins and mitochondrial DNA, leading to further increases in intracellular ROS levels and a decline in mitochondrial function.
Another consideration is the molecular inflammatory theory of aging, whereby the activation of redox- (oxidation-reduction-) sensitive transcription factors (molecules that control gene activity) by age-related oxidative stress causes increased expression of proinflammatory genes, leading to inflammation in various tissues. This inflammatory cascade is exaggerated during aging and has been linked to many age-associated pathologies, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, arthritis, and several neurodegenerative diseases. Chronic inflammation, whether due to diet, infection, stress, or other factors, can potentially accelerate the aging process.
Mammals under calorie restriction produce fewer ROS and age slower. Such effects of calorie restriction have been attributed to its ability to lower the steady state of oxidative stress, slow the accumulation of age-associated oxidative damage, and increase metabolic efficiency.
A common phenomenon in all of the aforementioned theories is that ROS serve as a contributing factor to many age-associated diseases.
In addition to theories of aging based on molecules and cells, there also exists a “psychosociological” theory of aging. As people grow older, their behaviour changes, their social interactions change, and the activities in which they engage change. The psychosociological theory of aging can be divided roughly into four component theories: disengagement, activity, life-course, and continuity theories. Disengagement theory is based on hampered relationships between a person and other members of society. Activity theory emphasizes the importance of ongoing social activity and suggests that a person’s self-concept (self-perspective) is related to the roles held by that person. Life-course theory is based on the developmental stages proposed by German-born American psychoanalyst Erik H. Erikson. According to Erikson’s stages, maturity is a process that continues into old age, and in each stage the individual encounters new psychosocial demands. Continuity theory states that older adults try to preserve and maintain internal and external characteristics (e.g., values, personality, preferences, and behaviour patterns) throughout life, despite changes in their health or life circumstances.
Natural history of aging
Reproduction and aging
Reproduction is an all-important function of an organism’s life history, and all other vital processes, including senescence and death, are shaped to serve it. The distinction between semelparous and iteroparous modes of reproduction is important for an understanding of biological aging. Semelparous organisms reproduce by a single reproductive act. Annual and biennial plants are semelparous, as are many insects and a few vertebrates, notably salmon and eels. Iteroparous organisms, on the other hand, reproduce recurrently over a reproductive span that usually covers a major part of the total life span.
In semelparous forms, reproduction takes place near the end of the life span, after which there ensues a rapid senescence that quickly leads to the death of the organism. In plants the senescent phase is usually an integral part of the reproductive process and essential for its completion. The dispersal of seeds, for example, is accomplished by processes—including ripening and falling (abscission) of fruits and drying of seed pods—that are inseparable from the overall senescence process. Moreover, the onset of plant senescence is invariably initiated by the changing levels of hormones, which are under systemic or environmental control. If, for example, the hormone auxin is prevented, by experimental means, from influencing the plant, the plant lives longer than normal and undergoes an atypical prolonged pattern of senescent change.
Useful inferences can be drawn from the study of the aging processes of insects that display two distinct kinds of adaptive coloration: the procryptic, in which the patterns and colours afford the insect concealment in its native habitat; and the aposematic, in which the vivid markings serve as a warning that the insect is poisonous or bad-tasting. The two adaptation patterns have different optimal species-survival strategies: the procryptics die out as quickly as possible after completing reproduction, thus reducing the opportunity for predators to learn how to detect them; the aposematics have longer post-reproductive survival, thus increasing their opportunity to condition predators. Both adaptations are found in the family of saturniid moths, and it has been shown that the duration of their post-reproductive survival is governed by an enzyme system that controls the fraction of time spent in flight: procryptics fly more, exhaust themselves, and die quickly; aposematics fly less, conserve their energies, and live longer.
These examples indicate that in semelparous forms, in which full vigour and function are required until virtually the end of life, senescence has an onset closely coupled with the completion of the reproductive process and is governed by relatively simple enzymatic mechanisms that can be modified by natural selection. Such specific, genetically controlled senescence processes are instances of programmed life termination.
The iteroparous forms include most vertebrates, most of the longer-lived insects, crustaceans and spiders, cephalopod and gastropod mollusks, and perennial plants. In contrast to semelparous forms, iteroparous organisms need not survive to the end of their reproductive phase in order to reproduce successfully, and the average fraction of the reproductive span survived varies widely between groups: small rodents and birds in the wild survive on the average only 10 percent to 20 percent of their potential reproductive lifetimes; whales, elephants, apes, and other large mammals in the wild, on the other hand, live through 50 percent or more of their reproductive spans, and a few survive beyond reproductive age. In iteroparous forms the onset of senescence is gradual, with no evidence of specific systemic or environmental initiating mechanisms. Senescence manifests itself early as a decline in reproductive performance. In species that grow to a fixed body size, decline of reproductive capacity begins quite early and accelerates with increasing age. In large egg-laying reptiles, which attain sexual maturity while relatively small in size and continue to grow during a long reproductive span, the number of eggs laid per year increases with age and body size but eventually levels off and declines. The reproductive span in such cases is shorter than the life span.
These comparisons illustrate the influence exerted by factors of population dynamics on the evolution of reproductive and bodily (somatic) senescence. The proportional contribution of an individual to the rate of increase of the iteroparous population obviously diminishes as the number of its living progeny increases. In addition, the individual’s reproductive capacity diminishes with age. These facts imply that there is an optimum number of litters per lifetime. Whether or not these influences of population dynamics lead to the evolution of adaptive senescence patterns has long been debated by gerontologists but has not yet been investigated definitively.
There is some evidence that calorie restriction delays reproductive senescence, which can be at least partially explained by the beneficial effects on the hypothalamus and pituitary gland to enhance the secretion of luteinizing hormone, which helps regulate the activity of the gonads, or sex glands.