Definition of "Ageing"

[Oliver Bogler]

In article <CLp1vJ.BpG at watserv2.uwaterloo.ca>, gobbi at healthy.uwaterloo.ca
(gobbi sebastiao) wrote:
> 
> Personally, I like the definition expressed by King (1988) : Aging is 
> defined as a genetic physiological process associated with morphological 
> and functional changes in cellular and extracellular components 
> aggravated by injury troughout life and resulting in a progressive 
> imbalance of the control regulatory systems of the organism, including 
> hormonal, autocrine, neuroendocrine and immune homeostatic mechanisms.
> 
> King, D.W. (1988) Pathology and aging. In: Kent, B. & Butler, R. (Eds), 
> Human Aging Research : concepts and techniques, pp.325 - 340, New York, 
> NY: Raven Press.

But see also C.E. Finch in his book "Longevity, Senescence and the Genome"
- he avoids using the term ageing altogether because of it's negative
connotation. Instead he discusses age-related changes in a wide variety of
organisms - and clearly makes the point that "ageing" is a very different
experience for organisms with different life histories.

Oliver Bogler
obogler at ucsd.edu