W poszukiwaniu fontanny młodości – podłoże genetyczne długowieczności oraz procesów starzenia

Abstract

Over the past six decades the development of medicine and improvements in living conditions have extended the life expectancy by almost 25 years; however, longer life does not go hand in hand with prolonged health span. Aging is an unavoidable process aff ecting everyone and from a medical point of view, delaying the aging process can bring noticeable benefi ts. It is especially important to maintain good health in the elderly. Due to the vast number of articles published on the topic, this publication focuses on the genetic background of aging and its delayed course. Both studies on long-lived animal species and typical animal models have shown an important role of genes that code for proteins in response to stress, DNA repair, genomic stability, and nutrient-sensing signalling pathways in aging and longevity. These observations are partially confi rmed by the genetic analysis of people living 100 years and more, as well as people suff ering from human premature aging-like syndromes.