It is known that self-renewal of cells, such as the liver, is primarily due to the liver cells themselves, and not stem cells – this is clearly seen when regenerating it in an experiment, when almost all hepatic cells can enter during the first regenerative mitosis during the day; only when such regeneration is blocked, stem cells begin to be activated in significant quantities – the so-called “oval liver cells” (Strick-Marchand et al., 2008). Stem cells are not immortal – silent stem cells eventually die for purely probabilistic reasons and mechanisms; stem cells that emerged into division form populations that are also depleted over time, some are replaced by other populations. Whether dividing stem cells can go to rest and replenish the silent pool of stem cells, and not only differentiate into more specific, highly differentiated tissue cells, remains little understood. With aging, rather, the active effects of an old organism on the stem and other cells are revealed, which can be seen in systems of syngeneic transfer between young and old animals (Albright, Makinodan, 1976; Gorskaya, 2011).
The notion that there is an “aging program” is another widespread myth (Kirkwood, Melov, 2011; Olovnikov, 2005; Rando, Chang, 2012). It is enough, however, to indicate that they ignore (or rather, do not understand or even do not know) stochastic processes, which naturally direct any systems to decay, and which do not require any special “program” for this. It is easy to understand on the basis of a mechanical analogue: a mechanical machine is created according to the drawings – “according to the program”, but when it starts to be used, the program is completed and its aging goes not according to the program, but according to the stochastic mechanism, due to the law of increasing entropy.
Thus, it is quite clearly seen that the basis of all the myths about aging is the lack of knowledge of scientific methodology and the inability to apply theoretical methods on the one hand, while inflating particulars on the other. As a result of the extreme specialization of the sciences, there are almost no scientists with a broad view – there are narrow specialists who do not see the big picture. On the other hand, there is the issuance of their own desires for scientific truth, as well as abstract reasoning for experimentally verified facts.
In questions about the cause of aging, the main mistake is a lack of understanding of the epistemological (theory of knowledge) fundamentals: the reason is not a specific mechanism, but a principle, another level of problem analysis. For the reason they give out various particular mechanisms, which leads to the “theories” of aging that grow beyond any measure and which do not “see” each other and any other mechanisms of aging.
The lack of systematic thinking does not allow us to see the problem of aging in general, and the lack of consideration of the hierarchy of the structure of the system does not allow us to see a qualitative difference in the manifestations of aging for different levels of organization of living systems.
Modern scientific analysis of the aging process should be carried out at a high level of abstraction, describing aging as a general phenomenon of the world, pointing out the most common mechanisms of aging and discovering fundamental ways of influencing them; should allow a general mathematical idea, the conclusions of which should not contradict the well-established experimental data on aging, in particular, the probability distribution of age-related mortality, and also clearly indicate the main physicochemical and biological mechanisms of aging.
Only for a man the question of prolonging life and preserving the personality, and especially the question of aging as a phenomenon of life, has become urgent. This, in particular, means that a person currently does not obey the laws of biological evolution and opens up to him purely human tasks and prospects for further development, based on the peculiarities of a human being – his intellect and psyche.
The real victory over aging means not the frozen “eternal youth”, but its further development in the physical and spiritual sense, controlled by the person himself.
For the level of all mankind – the taking under control of the biological nature of man and its further controlled development on the basis of a fundamentally new, that only man has – his mind and psyche.
1.2. History of views on the aging process
Aging of living organisms is difficult to study in the framework of a single discipline; therefore, this complex process is studied in various fields of science: biochemistry, molecular biology, genetics, demography, mathematics, medicine, and sociology (Anisimov, 2008; Atwood, Bowen, 2011; Burnet, 1970; Comfort, 1988; Babaeva, Zuev, 2007; Chebotarev, 1984; Chernilevsky, 2008; Dean, 1988; Gladyshev, 2012; Bogomolets, 1938; Gavrilov, Gavrilov, 1986; Davydovsky, 1966; Dilman, 1981; Dogel, 1922; Freitas, de Maga-lhães, 2011; Frolkis V.V., Muradjan, Fuente et al., 2011; Giaimo, 2014; Gompertz, 1825; Gorskaya et al., 2011; Harrison et al., 1982; Hayflick, 2007; Hughes, 2010; Jarygun, 2003; Khavinson, Konovalov, 2008; Khalyavkin A.V., Jashin, 2004; Kirkwood, Melov, 2011; Kishkun, 2008; 1967; Korshelt, 1925; Mechnikov, 1908, Nesterenko, 1984; Oliveira et al., 2010; Olovnikov, 2005; Rando, Chang, 2012; Semenkov et al.., 2005; Streler, 1964; 1992; Shabalin, 2005; Shmalgausen, 1926; Sohal, Orr, 2012; van Leeuwen et al., 2010; Veisman, 1914; Vojtenko, Poljuhov, 1986; Walford, 1969; Walker, 2011; Zavadsky, 1923).
General questions of the biology of aging and the specific manifestations of aging in various organisms in evolution are considered, for example, in reviews (Dean, 1988; Flatt, Schmidt, 2009; Freitas, de Magalhães, 2011; Hayflick, 2007; Hughes, 2010; Kirkwood, Melov, 2011; Masoro, Austad, 2011; Sohal, Orr, 2012; Vern et al, 2011; Walford, 1969).
The method of theoretical consideration of the issue is earlier than the experimental one, and no less important, and in some cases even the only possible way to obtain information on the most general laws, causes and essence of the phenomenon.
Gerontology studies the age dynamics of the vitality of the human body, the manifestations of aging at all hierarchical levels – from molecules and cells to organ systems and the whole organism, factors affecting viability, statistical patterns that characterize age-related changes in mortality in populations and in certain groups of the population, having certain differences related to gender, profession, ethnic characteristics, etc., as well as diagnostic methods for the aging of the whole organism and its parts and possible of life and would impact on aging with a view to slowing down and appeals.
The basis of modern scientific views on the essence of life and being in general is the doctrine of development, change, evolution, progress of all things, which, however, was known in ancient times: “Everything is in motion, everything flows, there is no rest and rest” (Heraclitus Ephesus, 480 y.).
One of the oldest explanations of the main cause of aging as a phenomenon inherent in living organisms was the study of the “life force” (Aristotle’s “entelechy”), which tends only to be wasted over time for any born organism, the beginnings of life and death. These ideas served as the basis for the development of the whole complex of theories of “wear” of the body – from Mop (1888) and Gertvig (1914), who considered that “the body wears like a machine”, to modern theories of wear their specific material substratum of this “wear” – unique genes, etc..
With the development of modern narrowly specialized science, the criticism of general notions as “idealistic” was replaced by crude materialism, which often reduces the reason, manifested as a general, to its particular specific manifestations.
Not surprisingly, as a result, all theories of aging, based on particular propositions, failed and are recognized only as a description of the mechanisms of aging, but not its root causes. It is impossible not to see the continuity between the term “life force” and the terms “vitality”, which are essential for medicine, biology and gerontology. Similarly, the dual “entelechy” corresponds to the antagonism of catabolism and anabolism, or the opposite of the