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The inflammatory process in aging

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2001

Hae Young Chung
Affiliation:
Pusan National University, Pusan, Korea
Hyon Jeen Kim
Affiliation:
Pusan National University, Pusan, Korea
Kyung Jin Jung
Affiliation:
Pusan National University, Pusan, Korea
Ji Sung Yoon
Affiliation:
Pusan National University, Pusan, Korea
Mi Ae Yoo
Affiliation:
Pusan National University, Pusan, Korea
Kyu Won Kim
Affiliation:
Pusan National University, Pusan, Korea
Byung Pal Yu
Affiliation:
Pusan National University, Pusan, Korea

Abstract

Aging processes are time-dependent, deteriorative functional changes. These functional changes lead to a progressive loss of the organism’s ability to withstand both internal and environmental stresses, causing the failure of cellular homeostasis. Among the modern hypotheses, the ‘Oxidative Stress Hypothesis’ offers the best mechanistic elucidation of aging phenomena. Based on the ‘Free Radical Theory of Aging’, this hypothesis has gained popularity among researchers in the field of gerontology as well as other biomedical fields. Its primary premise proposes that aging and its related disease processes are the net result of free radical-induced damage, asserting further that an organism’s inability to produce counterbalancing antioxidative defences, i.e. defences that offset disturbances in the redox state, underlies its cause.

Type
Review Article
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2000

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