Aging, from basic research to pathological applications

This introductory chapter tentatively draws a parallel between some of the highlights of basic aging research and their incidence for the understanding of age-associated pathologies. Some of the most important mechanisms described for cell- and tissue-aging, such as limited cell-proliferation, "parasitic" reactions, such as non-enzymatic glycation, ROS-production, uncontrolled proteolysis involving matricryptic sites, receptor loss and uncoupling appear to be the most-promising links between those two approaches to fundamental and clinical gerontology. Some of the "parasitic", epigenetic, post-translational reactions lead to vicious circles which over the years might well produce cell- and tissue-damage as seen in most age-associated diseases. There is little doubt that the better understanding of these relationships will also prove helpful for pharmacological research as related to the age-associated pathologies. (C) 2003 Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.