Aging processes and their physiology

With years, potential protective forces of the organism, its immune system are gradually growing weak. Neuromediators, as many other factors that regulate body immune system, that are responsible for lymphocytes and their receptors production and for participation of phagocytating cells in immune reaction, undergo distinct age alterations.

In the newest research it was found that in aging body production of, for example, interleukines, could become misbalanced. In this case we are rather talking about function distortion or about immune system misbalance that lead to weakening of body resistance to different diseases.

From the time of Alexis Carrel from Rockefeller Institute in New York (Nobel prize in medicine for 1912) works publishing it became well known that cells of higher animals’ organs can be taken from organism and grown in a special nutrition medium. Meanwhile, L.Hayflick and P.S.Moorhead from Philadelphia showed in 1961 that cells from higher animals, placed in such a medium, were also subject to aging. They performed certain number of divisions in adequate periods of time and then reached a decrepit state, characterized with alterations in their morphology and loss of ability to proliferation. After L.Hayflick’s works no means have been discovered that could stimulate the culture of old cells to proliferate.

Therefore, L.Hayflick proclaimed that cells have programmed durability of life. Malignant cells that can divide and reproduce for indefinite number of times in appropriate medium are the only type of high animal cells that did not correspond to such a principle.

Modern researchers (professor G.Sauer and Dr.E. Amtmann) from German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg have shown that reaction to growth factors has been restored after addition of embryonal cells suspension in decrepit fibroblast cultures that reached post-mitotic stage in a tube.

After temporal suspension action the mitotic activity (cell division) renewed and cells continued to divide in culture. The difference between young and aged cells is in the fact, that young cells react to the growth factors and aged cells do this only if stimulation factors are added to the nutrition medium with cell culture.

One can suppose that stem cells restore the reaction of aged cells by renewing receptors for growth factors. In such a treatment morphology and physiology of the aged cells become the same as in young cells.

In that way it was proved by experiment that decrepit cells may acquire characteristics of “younger cells” with a help of active growth stimulating substances, that are produced in intrauterine life only.

During last years many alterations of physical parameters of humans and animals, that accompany aging processes, have been studied.

In this connection American group of scientists studied the action of growth hormone injections (hypophysis hormone) on organism characteristics peculiar to middle age. Growth hormone stimulated production of other growth factor in liver, called IGF-1. Its concentration in blood decreases with age up to 20% of the level of younger organism.

Group of volunteers in the age of 61-80 years received small doses of human growth hormone for half a year. The second group was a control one.

In conclusion the authors state: “Six months effect of human growth hormone administration to mass of depleted body and to mass of fat tissues was equivalent in general to compensation of those alterations that happen in organism during 10-20 years of aging…”

Therefore, aging, besides stem cells lost, at least, partially, is caused by gradual decrease (or alteration) of hormone-like substances production by organism and also by loss of receptors, that are active in young age.

It is possible to delay aging by administration of biologically active substances that prevent organism from aging.

Experiments also showed that stem cells suspensions restored decrepit cells. For example, connective tissues (fibroblasts) start to react to growth factors, acquiring characteristics of young cells, and positively influence age-related alterations of immune system function as prophylaxis or disorder treatment.

Serious diseases, which are caused by impairment of immune system regulatory functions, such as lymphomatosis (in mice) can be prevented or, at least, considerably delayed by stem cells suspension application.

Besides, it was marked that clinical effect in stem cells suspension administration was reached also due to impact into main brain activity sources:

• reticular formation of middle brain that regulates level of vigilance and hypothalamus
• limbic system, frontal lobe cortex, that forms emotional reactions and the number of subcortical formations that determine behavior directivity and level of locomotion activity.
• restoration of balance of ascending and descending activating and inactivating influences of cerebral trunk was traced.

To summarize, it can be mentioned that aging is connected with alterations in self-system of body health control, its immune, hormonal and other systems (for example, blood clotting mechanism, decrease in intensity and quality of stem cells division, etc.), whose work sooner or later impairs and leads to many age-related diseases.

Today it is reliably ascertained that there is a chance to counteract such alterations with the help of tissue and cellular therapy.