Vol 7, No 1 (2017)

The biochemistry of glycation and its role in the disruption of cell metabolism and development of age-related pathologies have been reviewed in this manuscript based on literature data published, for the most part, in the last 5 years. The effects of antiglycation and deglycation actions of endogenous enzymes, as well as of exogenous chemical compounds of natural and synthetic nature on the process of aging, were evaluated.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a chronic progressive disease characterized by damage to the central retina zone. Changes in choriocapillaries, retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), and Bruch’s membrane (typical for aging) underlie AMD pathogenesis; however, the mechanisms launching the transfer of typical age-related changes in the pathological process are unknown. The death of photoreceptors and irreversible loss of vision become the results of pathological changes in RPE and choroid. In spite of intensive studies of AMD pathogenesis, information on molecular genetic preconditions of the events leading to the death of photoreceptors (as well as about the pathways of their death) is extremely limited; this complicates the search for efficient methods of AMD treatment (first of all, the most widely spread atrophic (“dry”) form of the disease). Recent studies demonstrated that not only apoptotic but also autophagic and necrotic signaling cascades are involved in the cellular death of retinal cells. The published data on three main forms of the programmed cell death (apoptosis, necrosis, and autophagy) and their role in AMD pathogenesis are summarized in the present review.

The validity of the two-component structure of annuity curves in Drosophila melanogaster (line Canton-S) observed in our previous studies has been confirmed. The structure is formed by a combination of a stable five-phase pattern and the variability of phase duration (the latter determines the variability of insect viability). Both the stable and the variable component were preserved over 60 generations of flies. The unconventional type of variability addressed in the present study exists along with the well-known type of variability related to the stochastic variation of the annuity curves. The variance of viability that characterizes the reaction norm remains unchanged in a series of generations as well. Thus, both types of variability can be classified as genetically determined phenomena.

We investigated the role of pro- and antioxidant and immune systems in age-related adaptive reactions to chronic exposure to toxicants (copper ions). For this purpose, we administered multiple doses of copper sulfate to younger and older rats in order to induce liver fibrosis and then measured the parameters of proand antioxidant and immune systems and physiological indices. It was found that Cu-induced liver fibrosis was accompanied by oxidative stress and a significant reduction in cell-mediated immune activity. If oxidative stress was eliminated by the administration of exogenous antioxidants (mix factor), the physical capacity, body weight, and content of red blood cells in rats with fibrosis was recovered. The parameters of cell-mediated immune response recovered more effectively in older animals than in younger ones. The metabolic strategies of adaptation to toxic exposure were different in younger and older animals.

An endogenous decline in the homeostatic characteristics of supraorganismal systems is similar to individual aging. The similarity lies in the fact that this decline, as well as individual aging, is caused by negative consequences of specialization of individual elements constituting the system. These consequences in supraorganismal systems are analogous to the parametabolic processes of an aging individual.

Mast cells (MCs) are present in the skin and mucous membranes, lymphoid organs, intestine wall, and brain, where they are located close to blood and lymphatic vessels and nerve terminals. As a source of a large number of biologically active substances, many of which are released quickly into the environment as a result of degranulation process, mast cells play an essential role in the regulation of physiological processes in the tissues where they are present. Changes in the MC population and activity in tissues during aging is associated with age-related changes of the skin and mucous membranes, as well as the development of centralnervous- system disorders such as itching, headache, joint and muscle pain, memory loss, attention deficit, depression, anxiety and depressive disorders, autism, Alzheimer’s disease, and multiple sclerosis.

According to available data reported by numerous national and international studies, one of the parameters reflecting the degree of lesioning of the vascular wall is arterial stiffness, which makes a fundamental contribution to the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases and the total cardiovascular mortality, especially in the elderly. Patients with cardiac arrhythmias, especially with atrial fibrillation (AF), deserve our special care, since it is this group of patients that is susceptible to a high risk of developing primary and recurrent thromboembolic episodes. This category of patients had a very high risk of death and invalidation, considering the age factor and comorbidity of the pathology. The analysis of factors involved in the development of not only AF, but also its complications, is a task necessary to improve technologies of correction. In view of this, the parameter of vascular-wall stiffness, being one of the mechanisms involved in AF maintenance and a risk factor for the development of acute thromboembolic complications, primarily stroke, should be given very serious consideration. This survey aims to discuss the results of studies devoted to arterial stiffness in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF), as well as the issues related to the risk of developing thromboembolic complications in this category of patients.

This scientific work is based on morphological research of the cerebellums of 219 corpses of people (108 men and 111 women) of young and senile age. Organometric, histological, and morphometric methods were used. During the study, a comparative analysis of the mass, linear dimensions, and thickness of the cerebral cortex in young and senile age was conducted. The regularities of age variability of organometric characteristic of the cerebellum were revealed, and they were found in the reduction of mass and linear dimensions of the cerebellum in people of senile age compared to younger people. It was determined that the thickness of the molecular and granular layers of the cerebellum was characterized by age-related decrease of the parameters. The results of the morphological study can serve as a basis for the identification of certain regularities of age anatomy of the cerebellum and have practical significance as indicators of the norm that allows using these data in diagnostic and therapeutic work.