V. Dontsov - General system theory of aging. Special role of the immune system

The important role of the immune system in aging was paid attention to for a long time, in particular, the great Russian immunologist and aging biologist I.I. Mechnikov, however, all attempts to create immune theories of aging and even to find out the specific mechanisms of the influence of immunity on aging until recent years were not consistent. This is all the more strange since the experiment has long been known that it is immunologic drugs that are the most effective geroprotectors and biostimulants, and changes in the organs of immunity (thymus) are the most demonstrative during aging.

Currently, however, Russian scientists have shown fundamentally new mechanisms of influence of immunotropic cells in the body. Studies of A.G. Babayeva awarded recognition as a discovery, showed that T-lymphocytes can directly influence the processes of cell growth and the differentiation of various cells. This was the basis for us to put forward a new immune theory of aging, which directly links involution with the age of the immune system and a sharp decline in cellular self-renewal in tissues with dividing cells (skin, mucous, parenchymal organs). These studies also give hope to use a wide class of immuno-pharmacological agents for the prevention and treatment of aging, which has been empirically proposed for a long time as many bio-activators that simultaneously increase the level of the body’s immune defense.

In the last 20—30 years, a great number of researchers worked in the field of gerontology – specialists from very different fields, including physicists, chemists, and others.

Studies by academician N.M. Emanuel marked the beginning of the development of antioxidants for the prevention of aging and bio-stimulation. A modern, extensive complex of creams and other skin care products practically does not do without substances of this group, as well as programs for the prevention of age-related diseases.

Modern anti-aging creams also include liposomes – the result of modern research on the theory and practice of artificial membranes, as well as hyaluronic acid and collagen – the result of traditional research on the aging of connective tissue of a large group of domestic and foreign scientists.

Modern studies on biorhythmology and methods of restoring and harmonizing biorhythms are undoubtedly related to the most ancient practices of acupuncture therapy in China. Modern electroacupuncture methods have proven their effectiveness (“longevity point”, etc.) and are waiting for wider use for the purposes of biostimulation and prolonging life.

Unfortunately, a large number of works claiming to discover the “fundamental causes and mechanisms” of aging, now have a purely historical interest. In many cases, these works only confused the essence of the issue, as they were based on particular issues, strengthening them to the general.

So, in fact, all theories that take the main role in aging chemical changes – the “spoilage” of proteins, DNA, colloids, etc. under the influence of cross-links, oxygen, etc., do not take into account the main feature of the living – self-renewal of the organism and cells and cannot explain the accumulation such changes over time.

Similarly, they did not give much either to practice or the theory of gerontologic and general conclusions not related to examining the organism in all its complexity: Rubner’s theory, which asserted that the amount of energy processed throughout one kilogram of body weight of different animals equally; theories about the “life hours” and the spending of the “life element” – the enzyme (I.I. Schmalhausen), the gene (L. Scillard), germplasm, differentiated cells and other material non-aging substrate; theories about the origin of aging in evolution as an adaptive mechanism (including the Weismann theory), ignoring the obvious fact of the overwhelming death of wild animals at a young age; general theories about the relationship of aging and development, reducing aging to a specific aging program, including the “death genes” or the programmed number of divisions for each cell (Hayflick’s theory), etc.; Carrel’s observations, pointing to the “immortality” of dividing cells and not taking into account the principle difference between population cellular phenomena and processes in the whole organism; Minot’s ideas, which associate cell differentiation with their death, but ignoring intracellular self-renewal, allowing non-fissile neurocytes to live throughout the whole organism and regulatetorus influences that sharply suppress potential-dividing cells, as well as many other ancient and modern theories. In general, it can be seen that research on the study of specific mechanisms of aging, very extensive and diverse, in most cases quite successfully led to the creation of various methods and means of biostimulation and prevention of individual manifestations of aging.

However, all the claims of researchers of this type to the creation of general theories of aging turned out to be completely untenable. This is not surprising since it is not methodologically correct to reduce the general laws and principles (namely, at this level, the analysis of the essence and cause of aging should be carried out) to separate mechanisms and manifestations – to particular aspects of the complex and diverse phenomenon of aging. The extreme specialization of modern scientists, which has led to just such a result, in recent years has finally been realized that it has stimulated the development of general methods of analysis – the theory of systems, self-organization, cybernetics, synergetics, etc. allow you to see the features of a common single natural theory of aging, to the creation of which all scientists aspired. The rapid development of statistics and demography somewhat overshadowed by the biology of aging, the achievements obtained by specialists in life expectancy biology. Thus, data from radiobiology, largely based on an analysis of the survival rate of irradiated animals, showed the possibility of accelerating natural aging – this is practically the only method that makes it possible to simulate accelerated aging adequate to the natural one. An analysis of historical mortality data allowed us to detect the phenomenon of the historical stability of the age-related component of mortality with a sharp decrease in the background or “external medium” component of mortality, which indicates the possibility of a sharp decrease in mortality due to socio-preventive measures, but denies the possibility of influencing in this way essentially, on the essential, internal processes of aging for the body (Dontsov, 2019).

Comparison of the age-related component of mortality for different regions of the World showed that although for each region they are historically stable, they differ for different regions.

It was mathematics that long ago resolved the dispute about the Maximum life span, as biologists believed, the “ultimate survival age” for organisms, replacing the absolute limit with the probabilistic survival law, as well as radically changing the notion of hereditary longevity, the ability to increase the Maximum life span with disease does not match the essence of aging, etc.

The presence of hundreds of theories of aging to date indicates not only and not so much the lack of a unified theory, general views, or lack of knowledge of the causes and essence of aging, but often a methodological lack of understanding of the subject matter. Although many gerontologists understood the importance of general biological laws (Bogomolets, 1938; Comfort, 1967; Dilman, 1981; Dogel, 1922; Frolkis V.V., Muradjan, 1992; Korshelt, 1925; Streler, 1964; Shmalgausen, 1926; Nagorny A.V., Nikitin V.N., Bulankin, 1963; Vojtenko, Poljuhov, 1986; Zavadsky, 1923), the main attention was drawn to the study of specific mechanisms of aging, issued as a reason. Science in historical development has gone through three stages, and each is characterized by its own general paradigm.