Challenges of Biological Aging [Paperback]

This volume provides the non-biologist an overview of what is known about the physiological bases of aging. The author examines the many basic theories and emerging hypotheses underlying the molecular, cellular, and systemic processes involved in senescence. He addresses the normal physiological changes that characterize the aging phenotype, and also considers the role of many age-associated diseases in growing older. Masoro synthesizes a much-needed unified theory of biological aging to which explains how and why the body grows into the condition we call old. This text is intended for gerontology students in training, as well as for human physiologists interested in gerontology,.

Preface
Acknowledgments

1. Aging: A Biological Puzzle

The Puzzle
Mortality Risk
Anatomical and Physiological Changes
Age-Associated Diseases
Concept of Biological Age
Genetics
Universality

2. Demography and the Societal Challenge

Population Mortality Data
Factors Determining Population Age Structure
Societal Impact of Changing Age Structure
Need for Biomedical Breakthroughs

3. Why Aging Occurs

Evolutionary Biology
History of Evolutionary Theories of Aging
Current Evolutionary Theory of Aging
Genetic Mechanisms in the Evolution of Aging
Evidence Supporting the Evolutionary Theory

4. How Aging Occurs

Overview
Theories, Hypotheses, and Concepts
Conclusions

5. Biological Basis of Aging: A Unifying Concept

Evolutionary Theory as a Guide
The Disposable Soma Theory of Aging
Private and Public Proximate Mechanisms of Aging
Unifying Concept

6. The Human Aging Phenotype

Body Structure and Composition
Skin
Musculoskeletal System
Nervous System
Cardiovascular System
Respiratory System
Renal and Urinary System
Gastrointestinal System
Endocrine and Metabolic Function
Female Reproductive System
Male Reproductive System
Immune Sl“+