INTRINSIC DAMAGE AND THE HUMAN MAINTENANCE SYSTEM
The current aging paradigm is based on the assumption that the default state of a complex organism is to remain alive. By contrast, the New Paradigm observes that the default state of all matter, including living organisms, is to be inanimate, i.e., dead. The New Paradigm highlights the significance of two countervailing forces that have hitherto received little attention from conventional academicians – intrinsic damage and the human maintenance system. Regardless of any extrinsic factors, the cells and other biological components that make up the human organism have very short lifespans – frequently measured in days. The intrinsic damage that results from that constant dying off of biological components (and less than perfect replacement thereof) is an inexorable force that has afflicted every complex metazoan that has ever existed on the planet.
Intrinsic Damage
The gestalt shift called for by the New Paradigm involves the acknowledgement that the default state of all matter (including all organisms) is to be inanimate. Each of the trillions of biological components that make up the human organism is itself a complex organism with a lifespan that is typically measured in days. Maintenance processes do not, and cannot, prevent those biological components from sustaining damage and dying. Complex metazoans are possible not because components are long-lived, but rather because, over the eons, metazoans have developed sophisticated maintenance processes that replace the components that die, thus allowing for the survival of the organism, notwithstanding the inexorable dying off of its components.
Overview of the Human Maintenance System
Specific Maintenance Processes
Mitochondrial Turnover
Bone Remodeling
Disorders Illustrate The Power of the HMS
Vitamin C is necessary in order for the proper functioning of a number of different maintenance processes. Among other things, vitamin C is necessary for certain enzymatic actions that need to occur in order for the body to create collagen, a substance that holds tissues together, and thus facilitates certain maintenance processes. The absence of vitamin C does not itself inflict any damage. However, as a result of maintenance processes that utilize collagen being disrupted, intrinsic damage accumulates rapidly. The accumulated damage manifests itself as the symptoms of scurvy. The symptoms of scurvy can be quite devastating and even fatal. In fact, in the 18th century, the problem was so common that ship owners and governments assumed a 50% death rate from scurvy for their sailors on any major voyage.
Another example would be muscle disuse atrophy. At one time it was a common medical practice to confine a broken limb in a hard cast for up to six weeks. Upon removing the cast, the broken bone would be fine, but the muscle that was also confined by the cast would have undergone horrific deterioration. That deterioration is the result of the absence of muscular activity interfering with the effective functioning of a maintenance process (most likely, mitochondrial turnover).
Higher Level Maintenance Processes Are Quite Complex
Higher-level maintenance processes are much more elaborate than lower level processes. Subcellular processes, such as mitochondrial biogenesis, work at the molecular level. By contrast, tissue level maintenance processes involve much more than the generation of tissue from simple molecules. Those processes utilize prefabricated components, such as stem cells and progenitor cells. The processes are coordinated by a host of different hormones. For example, among the hormones known to be involved in the bone remodeling process described above are parathyroid hormone (PTH), human growth hormone (GH), glucocorticoids, thyroid hormones (T3 and T4) and sex hormones.i The production, storage and secretion of the hormones necessary for a tissue level maintenance process is possible only because humans have a sophisticated endocrine system.
Limitations of the Human Maintenance System
Humans do undergo certain physiological changes with advancing chronological age that are natural/genetically mandated. Those non-functional changes occur because the human maintenance system is not designed to prevent or reverse all age-associated physiological changes. Natural selection makes cost/benefit choices relating to the optimal way to allocate finite resources.
Conclusion
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- De Grey, ADNJ, Life span extension research and public debate: societal considerations, Studies in Ethics Law and Technology (2007).
- See, e.g., Gladyshev VN, Aging: progressive decline in fitness due to the rising deleteriome adjusted by genetic, environmental, and stochastic processes, Aging Cell, (2016).
- Hayflick L, Entropy explains aging, genetic determinism explains longevity, and undefined terminology explains misunderstanding both. PLoS Genetics (2007).
- The New Paradigm uses the term “component” rather than cell, because cells are themselves made up of a multitude of components. Cells that would ordinarily have long lifespans can have their lives significantly shortened by the accumulation of damage to their components.
- Gottlieb RA, Gustaffson AB, Mitochondrial turnover in the heart. Biochim Biophys Acta (2011).
- Diaz f, Moraes CT, Mitochondrial biogenesis and turnover, Cell Calcium (2008).
- Ogata T, and Yamasaki Y, Ultra-high-resolution scanning electron microscopy of mitochondria and sarcoplasmic reticulum arrangement in human red, white, and intermediate muscle fibers, The Anatomical Record (1997).
- Frank M, et al., Mitophagy is triggered by mild oxidative stress in a mitochondrial fission dependent manner, Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) – Molecular Cell Research (2012).
- Gladyshev VN, Aging: progressive decline in fitness due to the rising deleteriome adjusted by genetic, environmental, and stochastic processes, Aging Cell, (2016).
- Hadjidakis DJ, Androulakis II, Bone remodeling, Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. (2006).
- Id.
- Id.
- The endocrine system is made up of glands that produce, store and secrete hormones. Hormones are chemical messengers that regulate and coordinate the functions of different organs and systems. Hormones also act as signaling molecules that regulate various maintenance processes.