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Aging & Apoptosis

Apoptosis is a rare word in common conversation, but can sometimes play a vital role in the aging process. Though a controversial concept, there is no doubt that apoptosis is associated with several diseases and conditions that generally occur with age, making the correlation between aging and apoptosis plausible, though not yet completely proven. The thought of what apoptosis is, essentially cell death, is scary to some, but makes sense in connection to the aging process.

  1. Apoptosis

    • Apoptosis is a type of death for a cell in the body. It is a programmed death, meaning that when a cell gets old, weak or unneeded, it is programmed to destroy itself. Apoptosis happens constantly in the body, and the body kills and replaces about a million cells per second. There are cases in which cell apoptosis happens too often or not often enough, and this is where it causes problems. Normally, however, apoptosis is a natural and necessary process for the body.

    History

    • Apoptosis was first defined, though not yet named, by Dr. P.D. Gluckman in 1951. The term "apoptosis" was not given to the process until 1972, when a group of three doctors, J.F. Kerr, A.H. Wyllie, and A.R. Currie, gave name to the process discovered by Gluckman years before. Interest in apoptosis with regards to aging have been growing since 1987, but the subject was ignored for many years until then.

    Phases

    • Apoptosis is carried out in the cell by three phases. Phase one is called the induction phase and happens when a signal is sent to the cell to initiate the death of the cell. Phase two is called the effector phase, in which the cell receives the signal and prepares to commit to its command. This is done by a key regulator within the cell. The third and final phase is called the degradation phase, in which the cell carries out its final task, shutting down. The nucleus of the cell breaks down from the inside, and in the cytoplasm of the cell, enzymes break down the rest of the cell.

    Relation to Aging

    • The role apoptosis plays in the aging process is not yet completely clear and proven, so it remains controversial among scientists and doctors. Some studies have shown that with age a significant amount of apoptosis occurs, causing damage to skeletal and cardiac cells. This means it could possibly be directly related to conditions such as osteoporosis and congestive heart failure. The problem is that it is not easy to measure and monitor cell destruction, either through necrosis (injury-related cell death) or apoptosis.

    Diseases

    • When apoptosis goes wrong, it can lead to many diseases and conditions. Apoptosis is in fact responsible for many. Cancer, for example, occurs when apoptosis doesn't occur enough and old, sick cells collect and do not die. Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease and Huntington's disease are results when the opposite happens. That is when apoptosis goes into overdrive and kills more cells than it should, causing damage to critical tissue, such as nerve cells and brain cells.

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