45 KB214 KB43 KB200520252005Grubič, Zoranletnik:568 straništevilka:posebna številkastr. 59-66ISSN:0014-8229COBISSID:20508377URN:URN:NBN:SI:doc-GPTVXOSEslSlovensko farmacevtsko društvoFarmacevtski vestnikfiziologijastaranjePatofiziologija staranja|Aging is defined as the progressive loss of physiological functions that culminates in death. We start our short review on this subject by explaining poor influence of aging on the evolutionary process of gene selection. We alsodiscuss how the lack of this selection reflects at the level of aging individuals. We continue with molecular and cellular mechanisms which, to our present understanding, underlie the aging process. The balance between damaging effects of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and defense against them hasbeen proposed as a major determinant of this process. Most of these mechanisms were investigated on the simple animal models, therefore we focus our last part of discussion on the studies related to the aging of humans. We describe Werners syndrome as an example of accelerated aging and discuss the role of telomerases in "counting" of cell divisions. At the end we mention future prospects on how the rate of aging can be modified and also the ethical, social and economical consequences that such interventions might haveTEXTznanstveno časopisjejournalsSlovenian National E-content AggregatorNational and University Library of SloveniaSlovensko farmacevtsko društvo