The well-known biologist of aging, A. Comfort, in his famous, classic classical “Biology of Aging” (1967), explicitly states that the mysterious “entelechy” and “vitality” at the modern level of understanding can be reduced to a fairly specific, though not the real substrate – “at the present time it seems quite probable that the information contained in the cells is that” biological energy”, the existence of which was previously assumed and which was thought to be wasted with age”.
The fact that entropy for any closed system only increases in time has long been known as the most general law of Being.
Life opposes the flow of entropy, organizing a counter-flow of order, however, effective opposition is possible only if all levels of the system are updated at all levels. For this reason, life as a whole does not age but develops, but by changing all forms – organisms. The organism, being by its nature a “complete” morpho-functional object, can only grow old immediately after cessation of growth and development. This pattern was grasped by many, having formed a number of theories of aging as “continuation of development”, “end of growth and development”, “consequences of cell differentiation”, “restriction growth”, “special type of growth restriction”, etc. However, these theories lacked methodo-logical completeness – generality, which is due to the lack of an adequate language for describing general processes in general.
In biology, the whole problem of aging is closely related to a number of areas, among which traditionally stands out the theory of reversibility of life processes, which arose on the basis of the study of dedifferentiation and regeneration.
It is about the opposite (in the morphological sense) movement of the processes of development, or reduction. The experiments of L.Vudroff on the reduction of the hydra during the fasting and its new development after the fasting indirectly confirmed the possibility of directional influence on ontogenesis. The zoologist E. Schults wrote about the limitless ability of living matter to reduce and rejuvenate. In studies on the reduction of the body in experiments on planarians and other multicellular animals (1904—1908), E. Schulz believed that this would lead to the reverse development of the organism. However, in later studies of Shaksel, Driesch, Hakslee and others, it was shown that this is not quite the case.
A large series of works on rejuvenation was performed on multicellular animals with good ability to regenerate lost parts of the body. Thus, in the experiments of Korshelt (1925), periodic cutting off of a part of the body in planarians led to the regeneration of lost parts and to a 20-fold prolongation of life (from division to division). Even greater progress was achieved in experiments on unicellular animals. For example, Hartmann (1928), by means of 130 periodic amputations of the body of an amoeba, restrained her from division and thus prolonged life (without division) 65 times.
Many researchers have shown that a number of metabolic disorders and the functions of organs and systems in an aging organism are reversible, which opened the way for research on biostimulation as a separate direction in gerontology. Some preparations of cell and tissue therapy, as well as cytotoxic sera belonging to the group of biological stimulants, have high activity and the ability to slow down the aging process. In order to activate the elements of the connective tissue and the immune system, academician A.A. Bogomolets developed and introduced into the practice of medicine anti-reticular cytotoxic serum in 1938, which is successfully used to slow the aging process. Academician V.P. Filatov proposed a method for obtaining tissue therapy preparations or nonspecific biostimulants from animal and plant tissues.
Closely related to the work on biostimulation research on the effect of stress on aging. Whole theories have been developed that treat aging as “chronic stress.” However, it seems to be of greater importance here to study the mechanisms of adaptation, when stress is only one of the stages of adaptation in general. In the creation of complete theories of adaptation, an important role belongs to domestic scientists. Thus, the studies of L.Kh.Garkavi, E.K. Kvakina and M.A. Ukolova (1975, 2002), recognized in the USSR as a discovery, showed the possibility of long-term support, not activation of stress, but biostimulation. It is accompanied not only by recovery from many chronic diseases but also by obvious signs of rejuvenation. The mechanisms of these influences, the authors see in the restructuring of the body’s reactivity, and especially in improving immunity.
The important role of the immune system in aging was paid attention to for a long time, in particular, the great Russian immunologist and aging biologist I.I. Mechnikov, however, all attempts to create immune theories of aging and even to find out the specific mechanisms of the influence of immunity on aging until recent years were not consistent. This is all the more strange since the experiment has long been known that it is immunologic drugs that are the most effective geroprotectors and biostimulants, and changes in the organs of immunity (thymus) are the most demonstrative during aging.
Currently, however, Russian scientists have shown fundamentally new mechanisms of influence of immunotropic cells in the body. Studies of A.G. Babayeva awarded recognition as a discovery, showed that T-lymphocytes can directly influence the processes of cell growth and the differentiation of various cells. This was the basis for us to put forward a new immune theory of aging, which directly links involution with the age of the immune system and a sharp decline in cellular self-renewal in tissues with dividing cells (skin, mucous, parenchymal organs). These studies also give hope to use a wide class of immuno-pharmacological agents for the prevention and treatment of aging, which has been empirically proposed for a long time as many bio-activators that simultaneously increase the level of the body’s immune defense.
In the last 20—30 years, a great number of researchers worked in the field of gerontology – specialists from very different fields, including physicists, chemists, and others.
Studies by academician N.M. Emanuel marked the beginning of the development of antioxidants for the prevention of aging and bio-stimulation. A modern, extensive complex of creams and other skin care products practically does not do without substances of this group, as well as programs for the prevention of age-related diseases.
Modern anti-aging creams also include liposomes – the result of modern research on the theory and practice of artificial membranes, as well as hyaluronic acid and collagen – the result of traditional research on the aging of connective tissue of a large group of domestic and foreign scientists.
Modern studies on biorhythmology and methods of restoring and harmonizing biorhythms are undoubtedly related to the most ancient practices of acupuncture therapy in China. Modern electroacupuncture methods have proven their effectiveness (“longevity point”, etc.) and are waiting for wider use for the purposes of biostimulation and prolonging life.
Unfortunately, a large number of works claiming to discover the “fundamental causes and mechanisms” of aging, now have a purely historical interest. In many cases, these works only confused the essence of the issue, as they were based on particular issues, strengthening them to the general.
So, in fact, all theories that take the main role in aging chemical changes – the “spoilage” of proteins, DNA, colloids, etc. under the influence of cross-links, oxygen, etc., do not take into account the main feature of the living – self-renewal of the organism and cells and cannot explain the accumulation such changes over time.
Similarly, they did not give much either to practice or the theory of gerontologic and general conclusions not related to examining the organism in all its complexity: Rubner’s theory, which asserted that the amount of energy processed throughout