Reactive Oxygen Species - Cause of Aging

Cause of Aging

According to the Free-radical theory, oxidative damage initiated by reactive oxygen species is a major contributor to the functional decline that is characteristic of aging. While studies in invertebrate models indicate that animals genetically engineered to lack specific antioxidant enzymes (such as SOD), in general, show a shortened lifespan (as one would expect from the theory), the converse manipulation, increasing the levels of antioxidant enzymes, has yielded inconsistent effects on lifespan (though some studies in Drosophila do show that lifespan can be increased by the overexpression of MnSOD or glutathione biosynthesizing enzymes). Also contrary to this theory, deletion of mitochondrial SOD2 can extend lifespan in Caenorhabditis elegans

In mice, the story is somewhat similar. Deleting antioxidant enzymes, in general, yields shorter lifespan, though overexpression studies have not (with some recent exceptions) consistently extended lifespan.