What is aging? Disagreement among researchers on the definition and causes

What is aging? Disagreement among researchers on the definition and causes

researchers who Alternating are almost inhabited-including what age is exactly, whether it represents an illness and when it begins. This emerges from a survey of around 100 scientists who work in this area.

A central goal of aging research is to help people live longer and healthier. But the exact causes of aging as well as effective methods to slow down or reverse it remain difficult to grasp. In order for the scientists to be able to address these challenges, they have to speak a common language, says Alan Cohen, who researches aging at Columbia University in New York City. "There is no need for a perfect consensus, but we have to clarify things significantly," he explains.

Vadim Gladyshev, another researcher in this area who works at the Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, and his colleagues agree to him. They decided to ask participants at an international aging conference in Newry, Maine, in 2022 in order to better understand the views of those who do research on this topic. The respondents included aspiring researchers, established scientists and experts from industry. The results are described today in Pas Nexus 1 .

Most researchers are clear about the definition of aging - but their perspectives often do not match those of others, says Gladyshev. "In this area, people joke that there are more theories than people." Despite these diverse views, Gladyshev was surprised at the extent of the problem.

The latest results reflect the similar survey of 37 researchers in 2019, which was carried out by Cohen and his colleagues 2 . Now it is "undeniably clear that there is enormous disagreement," says Cohen.

what is aging?

When asked about a description of aging, a third of the respondents considered aging as a loss of function over time, from cell damage to a decline in general health and fitness. Others saw aging than a gradual accumulation of harmful changes . Not all interviewed agents with negative consequences; Some described it as a state - reversible or not - or as a continuation of the development. Others viewed the topic from the demographic perspective and described simply as a Increased probability to die .

Questions about the causes of aging also showed a wide range of answers, from the accumulation of damage to evolutionary restrictions and changes in the regulatory system to a deterioration in repair mechanisms. Some admitted that they did not know what ages.

The researchers also disagree whether aging is an illness. More than a third of the respondents said it was an illness, 38 % contested this, and the remaining 28 % remained neutral. Cohen is against the description of aging as a disease, as this implies that it is something that has to be removed, although many researchers in this area up to a certain degree work towards this goal .

for Gladyshev The answer to this question is more complicated. "Aging is not a disease, but it is not a disease," he says. He sees many Diseases as an ultimately accelerated aging that takes place in certain organs or in the body as a whole.

When does aging begin?

The respondents generally agreed that aging begins early in life, but could not agree on how early.

Some said the process begins before conception when egg cells and sperm are produced. According to this theory, people whose parents are older, when they are received, are already advanced in aging, says Cohen. The problem with this view is that it theoretically goes back into the past forever. Cohen believes that aging begins from the moment in which egg cell and sperm meet - at conception.

Ultimately, Gladyshev says, reflects the great variety of answers to the many unknowns in this area. He expects quick progress in the definition of aging, including the development of Biomarkern , about the Biological Age to follow. "It's a time of chances."

1. Gladyshev, V. N. et al. Pas nexus https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgae499 (2024).

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2. Cohen, A. A. et al. Mech. Aging Dev. 190, 111316 (2020).

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