Disrupted cellular quality control mechanisms in aging

Aging is a biological process that affects cells, organs and organisms, mainly characterized by a time-related deterioration of the physiological functions necessary for fertility and survival. Aging affects all the individuals of a species at variable rates and is unavoidable. Therefore, it is important to elucidate the mechanisms underlying this process. When lay audiences refer to aging, they usually refer to senior people and the highlighted features are typically: a decline in motor abilities, cognitive performance and “external” visual signs of age, such as wrinkles. However, aging is much more complex than that and engages the accumulation of detrimental modifications in deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), proteins and lipids, as well as the appearance of cellular protein aggregates and lysosomal lipofuscin, a specific hallmark of senescent, post-mitotic cells. Generally, this process is accompanied by a progressive decrease in the capacity to properly react to stress conditions, which occurs in association with the homeostatic failure and accumulation of molecular damage.