Access

News and Views


Nature Medicine 11, 598 - 599 (2005)
doi:10.1038/nm0605-598

Less stress, longer life

M Flint Beal1

  1. The author is in the Department of Neurology and Neuroscience, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, New York 10021, USA. e-mail: fbeal@mail.med.cornell.edu


The theory that oxidative stress limits lifespan and causes age-related disease rests on experiments in invertebrates and correlative evidence from studies in mammals. This theory now gains a strong experimental basis in mammals.


The oxidative stress theory of aging holds that the slow, steady accumulation of oxidative damage to macromolecules causes age-associated reductions in physiologic functions and reduces life expectancy. Reactive oxygen species are generated in large part from single electrons escaping from the electron transport chain, suggesting that mitochondria are the major target of attack by free radicals.

MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS

These links to content published by NPG are automatically generated.