The close relationship between biological aging and age-associated pathologies in humans

Abstract

In the last 100 years, there has accumulated a vast amount of information about the changes that accompany aging in a wide range of animal species. At the same time, there has been extensive documentation of the onset and characteristics of age-associated pathologies of humans and other mammals. It is argued that the totality of all this information is interrelated and provides a very extensive description of the deleterious changes in molecules, cells, tissues, and organs, which accompany both aging and many age-associated diseases. The accumulation of damage is in DNA, proteins, membranes, and organelles, as well as the formation of insoluble protein aggregates. The evolved design of many organ systems, such as the cardiovascular system, the brain, and the eye, are incompatible with indefinite survival. The eventual failure to maintain the integrity of tissues and organs is the end result of the multiple causes of aging.