Frailty as a Manifestation of Oxidative Stress
Oxidative stress is the name given to the presence of an overly large number of oxidative molecules in cells and tissues, a state that results in damage to protein machinery and degraded function as chemical reactions take place at a faster pace than altered proteins can be replaced. Oxidative stress is a feature of aging, resulting from mitochondrial dysfunction and processes related to chronic inflammation, among other issues. This open access paper discusses oxidative stress in connection with age-related frailty, but is non-committal on where in the chain of cause and consequence, from root causes to final manifestations of aging, oxidative stress is to be found. This is a problem in the field: without some view on which causes result in which consequences in aging, how to steer the research community towards the exploration of effective therapies, those that address causes rather than patching over consequences?
The free radical theory of aging connected oxidative stress with the aging process and aging-related diseases. Although this theory failed to completely explain the aging process, the prominent role of oxidative damage in the decline of function coursing with aging in different tissues is widely accepted. An imbalance between pro-oxidant and antioxidant species would result in oxidative molecular and cellular damage. However, despite their well-known deleterious role, it is now recognized that reactive oxygen species (ROS) are key physiological signaling...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
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