Back هرم (فيزيولوجيا) Arabic Qocalma Azerbaijani قوجالیق AZB Senescència Catalan Degeneration Danish Γήρας Greek Senescencia Spanish Bioloogiline vananemine Estonian Zahartze Basque پیری Persian
Senescence (/sɪˈnɛsəns/) or biological aging is the gradual deterioration of functional characteristics in living organisms. Whole organism senescence involves an increase in death rates or a decrease in fecundity with increasing age, at least in the later part of an organism's life cycle.[1][2] However, the resulting effects of senescence can be delayed. The 1934 discovery that calorie restriction can extend lifespans by 50% in rats, the existence of species having negligible senescence, and the existence of potentially immortal organisms such as members of the genus Hydra have motivated research into delaying senescence and thus age-related diseases. Rare human mutations can cause accelerated aging diseases.
Environmental factors may affect aging – for example, overexposure to ultraviolet radiation accelerates skin aging. Different parts of the body may age at different rates and distinctly, including the brain, the cardiovascular system, and muscle. Similarly, functions may distinctly decline with aging, including movement control and memory. Two organisms of the same species can also age at different rates, making biological aging and chronological aging distinct concepts.
- ^ Kirkwood TB (1977). "Evolution of ageing". Nature. 270 (5635): 301–4. Bibcode:1977Natur.270..301K. doi:10.1038/270301a0. PMID 593350. S2CID 492012. Archived from the original on 15 November 2023. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
- ^ Nelson P, Masel J (December 2017). "Intercellular competition and the inevitability of multicellular aging". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 114 (49): 12982–7. Bibcode:2017PNAS..11412982N. doi:10.1073/pnas.1618854114. PMC 5724245. PMID 29087299.