Applying deductive reasoning and the principles of particle physics to aging research

Abstract

Aging is debatably one of the biggest mysteries for humanity, a process consisting of myriads of genetic, molecular, environmental, and stochastic deleterious events, leading to a progressive loss of organism functionality. Aging research currently lacks a common conceptual framework, and one challenge in establishing it is the fact that aging is a highly complex process. To help develop a framework of standard aging rules, we suggest the use of deductive reasoning based on particle physics' principles. Specifically, the principles that we suggest applying to study aging are discreteness of processes, transformation as a result of interaction, and understanding of threshold. Using this framework, biological aging may be described as a sequence of highly discrete molecular transformations caused by a combination of various specific internal and external factors. Internal organismal function and interaction of an organism with the environment result in chronic accumulation of molecular damage and other deleterious consequences of metabolism and the consequent loss of system's functionality. The loss of functionality occurs as a series of thresholds the organism reaches before it turns into an utterly non-functional state. We discuss how having a common ground may benefit aging research, introduce the logic of new principles and analyze specific examples of how this framework could be used to study aging and design longevity interventions.

Riscos à saúde das práticas médicas de antienvelhecimento: uma análise literária

“…Nesse sentido, a crescente busca pelo avançar dos anos, e não pelo envelhecimento funcional do corpo caracteriza a tentativa de rejuvenescimento que embasa a ideologia "ageless", pois esta transforma o corpo em objeto de consumo voltado à manutenção da jovialidade, de modo a permitir, com isso, a propagação de discursos médicos e de procedimentos estéticos voltados ao antienvelhecimento. (Rozendo, 2022) Tendo em vista que o envelhecimento leva ao acúmulo de danos crônicos os quais promovem a perda de funcionalidade (Moldakozhayev et al 2021), há o desenvolvimento de terapias e de procedimentos antienvelhecimento voltados à preservação das concepções estéticas relacionadas à juventude. Dessa forma, observa-se a existência de prebióticos, de probióticos (Ros, 2019), de compostos fitobioativos (Vaiserman et al, 2021), como o resveratrol,das nanopartículas (Henz, 2020) e, até mesmo, de substâncias antioxidantes, por exemplo, presentes em algas marinhas (Cao et al,2020) que apresentamse como agentes promissores no combate ao envelhecimento.…”